Global Business Initiative on Human Rights

News Archive

8 December 2011 & 20 January 2012- GBI submissions to the new UN Working Group on business and human rights - click here for submission or here for intervention

10 November 2011 - over 130 participants attend Business and Human Rights Roundtable for ASEAN Business Leaders - for more click here for press release, agenda or for ASEAN Foundation Newsletter click here

July 26th 2011 - Report of GBI, IBLF and UN ESCAP-led session at 2011 Asia-Pacific Business Forum submitted to Ministers at UNESCAP Trade and Investment week - more

June 16th 2011 - In an unprecedented step, the United Nations Human Rights Council has endorsed a new set of Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights - PDF press release

Cerrejόn letter in support of UN Guiding Principles addressed to Professor John Ruggie - 27 May 2011 - “We believe the framework is a valuable contribution to responsible and respectful company human rights behaviour and it offers companies, States, and civil society a set of clear, broad, and comprehensive principles to promote and respect human rights” Julián B Gonzalez, Vice President for Sustainability and Public Affairs PDF of full letter

APBF 2011 on July 25th and 26th - GBI partnering with UN ESCAP, Asia Development Bank, International Business Leaders Forum and others on event involving business and governments from the Asia Pacific. more

The Coca-Cola Company letter supporting Professor John Ruggie's Guiding Principles “The Guiding Principles provides a foundation and flexible framework for companies like ours .... The Coca-Cola Company is pleased to strongly endorse and support the Guiding Principles.” Ed Potter, Director, Global Workplace Rights, The Coca-Cola Company, PDF of full letter

Flextronics letter in support of UN Guiding Principles sent to Professor John Ruggie - 26 May 2011, states “The ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ framework and the Guiding Principles provide clear guidance for businesses, whether international or domestic, in taking practical actions to fulfill their responsibility to ensure their operations respect human rights. ...... I am confident that the Guiding Principles will be well received and supported by the Human Rights Council.” Richard Wong, VP, Global Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Relations, PDF of full letter

JSL Stainless Ltd letter to Professor John Ruggie in support of UN Guiding Principles - 26 May 2011 says “Business interface with human rights issues in today’s context in the developing world can be very complex and most of these very complexities have in some form found initial guidance and redress mechanisms in the GPs. ......... JSL Stainless Ltd. would like to acknowledge that your work has been a key driver for JSL Stainless Ltd to become systematic in implementing corporate respect for human rights ...” Mr. Ratan Jindal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, JSL Stainless Ltd PDF of full letter

Total S.A. letter in support of UN Guiding Principles sent to John Ruggie “We write to express our support to the Framework and its Guiding Principles you are proposing to the Human Rights Council. We believe that these guiding principles will help companies to better understand their roles in the Human Rights field.” Peter Herbel Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Total S.A. PDF of full letter

General Electric Company (GE) letter to Professor John Ruggie in support of UN Guiding Principles states"While additional work lies ahead as States and businesses seek to measure up to both the practical guidance and aspirational elements of your work, the Guiding Principles will no doubt serve as a lasting beacon for business entities seeking to grow their service and product offerings while respecting human rights." Bob Corcoran, Vice-President, Corporate Citizenship, GE and President of the GE Foundation. PDF of full letter

Sime Darby supports UN Guiding Principles - Malaysian GBI member Sime Darby today sent a public letter to Professor John Ruggie in support of the UN Guiding Principles. "We support the United Nations 'Protect, Respect and Remedy' Framework. We believe that this, together with the Guiding Principles for Implementation, will help businesses better understand and manage their roles and responsibilities in human rights" Puvan Selvanathan, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, Sime Darby PDF of full letter

31 March 2011 - A Business Roundtable entitled Human Rights and Business Practices: Understanding Responsibilities provided space for a unique exchange among business leaders in relation to a rapidly developing area of corporate responsibility. The session brought together experiences of 150 individuals - over 120 business representatives (with almost 60 domestic Brazilian companies represented), together with representatives from NGOs, civil society, academia and the United Nations. Link to full press release in English and Portuguese

24 March 2011 - United Nations releases much-anticipated set of Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights. The Guiding Principles seek to provide for the first time an authoritative global standard for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse human rights impacts linked to business activity. Link to the Guiding Principles

18 March 2011 - GBI announces that the Initiative's core group of members has been joined by Malaysia-based diversified multinational Sime Darby

Roundtable for Latin American Business, Brazil, March 2011 - This one-day roundtable will be an exchange among senior business leaders in relation to a rapidly developing area of human rights responsibilities. The session will bring together experiences of global businesses, plus key experts, to explore the relevance, challenges and ways forward for human rights and business in the Latin American context. The Roundtable is being convened by GBI in partnership with the Ethos Institute, Conectas, El Centro Regional para América Latina y el Caribe en apoyo del Pacto Mundial de las Naciones Unidas and Levy & Salomão Advogados. Participation in the event is by invitation only. Please email bhr.event@global-business-initiative.org to register your interest or for more information.

January 2011 - GBI members Mansour, Novo Nordisk A/S, Shell, The Coca-Cola Company, Total S.A. and Unilever plc. join United Nations Global Compact LEAD along with nearly 50 other companies from 25 countries. LEAD is a new platform for corporate sustainability leadership, aiming to challenge highly engaged companies in the UN Global Compact to reach further, innovate, and to share learning more

International Human Rights Day 2010 - GBI releases statement supporting publication of the 'Draft Guiding Principles for the Implementation of the United Nations 'Protect, Respect and Remedy' Framework more

9th December 2010 - Global Business Initiative on Human Rights Roundtable, Cairo - keynote speakers Prof. John Ruggie and Youssef Mansour: This one-day roundtable comprised an exchange among senior business leaders in relation to human rights in a business context. The session brought together experiences of international and Egyptian businesses, plus relevant experts, to explore the relevance, value-addition, challenges and ways forward for human rights and business in the Egyptian context. The event was held in partnership with UNDP, The John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at The American University in Cairo, The Egyptian Corporate Responsibility Center (ECRC), UNGC and Al Mansour Holding Company). A report of the Roundtable will be published in 2011.

UN Special Representative on business & human rights Professor John Ruggie has issued his draft “Guiding Principles for the Implementation of the UN ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework”. Comments can be sent via the online consultation forum. The draft Guiding Principles are open for public review and comment until 31 January 2011. more

Report from the Leaders Breakfast 2010: In June 2010, GBI and global partners and supporters convened a Leaders Breakfast as a side session of the UNGC Leader Summit. Attended by over 300 representatives from business, civil society and government, the event provided an opportunity to highlight the work being done by the Special Representative on Business and Human Rights and also draw attention to the views of business, government and civil society leaders as to where this debate may be in ten year’s time. The event was held in partnership with the Institute for Human Rights and Business, Global Compact Network Netherland and with the support the Governments of Switzerland and the Netherlands, the Novartis Foundation, for Sustainable Development and the Global Compact Office. Click here to view the Leaders Breakfast Report

Colombia Roundtable on Business and Human Rights: On 24 May 2010 a Roundtable event was organised by the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights (GBI), Fundación Ideas Para La Paz (FIP), El Centro Regional para América Latina y el Caribe en apoyo del Pacto Mundial de las Naciones Unidas and the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) to address the topic of business and human rights. The event aimed to offer business leaders from all sectors the chance to understand the macro trends, drivers and imperatives for integrating human rights into business strategy and management, hear how corporate respect for human rights has led to practical and efficient responses to social and environmental challenges; and identify shared needs and strategies to play a stronger role in the national, regional and international debate on human rights in a business context. The group of 64 participants and speakers on the day included Senior Business Leaders, the Colombian Government, the United Nations, and Civil Society. Click here to view the Colombia Roundtable Report 2010

On September 14th 2010, Global Compact Network Vietnam held a workshop on “Managing Human Rights Issues in your Companies and Organization”. Chaired by GBI Director Mark Hodge, the workshop provided an overview of current Human Rights issues in the Asian region and a set of recommendations on how best to integrate Human Rights principles into business practices. Over 30 members attended the workshop in Hanoi. Copies of the presentations and recommendations made at the workshop can be found on the GCNV website at www.globalcompactvietnam.org Click here for GCNV newsletter containing a summary of the event

Unilever joins Global Business Initiative on Human Rights: GBI has formally announced that the Initiative's core group of members has been joined by Unilever, a leading supplier of fast moving consumer goods. The breadth of Unilever's global presence marks a significant step in the Initiative's programme, aimed at advancing human rights in business around the world. The following companies make up the core group of GBI: ABB Group, Cerrejón Coal Company, Flextronics International Limited, General Electric Company, HP, JSL Stainless Limited, Mansour, Novo Nordisk A/S, Shell, The Coca-Cola Company, Total S.A. and Unilever plc.

The Millennium Development Goals and Human Rights: Companies taking a rights-aware approach to development: includes case studies from three GBI member companies Link to the report here

On August 11th 2010, JSL Stainless Limited (part of the Jindal Group, India) became a core group member of the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights. JSL Stainless Limited are the first Indian business house to join GBI more

"Building a strong human rights policy from within" - commentary by GBI Director Kathryn Dovey is now available on the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre's Tools and Guidance Portal link

The case for human rights policies - July 18th, Financial Express India - quotes UN SRSG John Ruggie, Uddesh Kohli of UNGC India, Salil Tripathi of IHRB and Mark Hodge, Director of GBI more

GBI Business and Human Rights Dialogues launched at UNGC Leaders Summit - a series of interviews with business leaders from around the world on the importance of integrating human rights into business practice more

Launch of Human Rights Matrix (beta 1.0): The BLIHR Human Rights Matrix is a web-based, free, self-assessment tool. It is designed to support your company in understanding human rights in relation to your own policies, procedures and initiatives. It will help you SIMPLIFY, VISUALISE, ASSESS AND MANAGE your human rights programs and performance. It is business friendly with built-in human rights expertise and knowledge. The Human Rights Matrix was developed by the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights. Please click here for more information and a link to the Matrix tool.

Leaders Breakfast on Business and Human Rights: Looking Ahead to the Next Ten Years – This event held prior to the opening of the UNGC Leaders Summit in New York (24 June) will be hosted by the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights, the Institute for Human Rights and Business, and the Netherlands Network of the Global Compact (GCNL), with support from the Governments of Switzerland and the Netherlands. Mary Robinson (Chair of the Institute for Human Rights and Business, Board Member of the UN Global Compact and Chair of its Human Rights Working Group) will moderate a discussion on the evolving business and human rights agenda and UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie, will deliver remarks. Contact: bhr.event@global-business-initiative.org (by invitation only).

International law firm Hogan Lovells hosts GBI Paris office - GBI are grateful to Hogan Lovells for hosting GBI Director Kathryn Dovey at their Paris office. This offers a unique opportunity for exchange between the Initiative and legal experts on areas of common interest.

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Human Rights Chapter in Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability by GBI Director Kathryn Dovey. Click here to view the chapter or click here to see the full publication.(Used with permission, originally published in the Encyclopaedia of Sustainability (c) Berkshire Publishing Group 2010, and provided here for individual use only and not for redistribution in any form)

24 May 2010 - Human Rights Imperatives and Practices for Business Roundtable Bogotá: This roundtable event was held on 24 May 2010 and focussed on integrating human rights into business. The event, directed at the Colombian business community, was organised by Fundación Ideas para la Paz in partnership with the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights, the Institute for Human Rights and Business and El Centro Regional para América Latina y el Caribe en apoyo del Pacto Mundial de las Naciones Unidas. Report to follow shortly.

14 May 2010 – The UN SRSG Professor John Ruggie’s 2009 report on “Business and human rights: Towards operationalizing the ‘protect, respect and remedy’ framework” has recently been issued, and includes reference the work of GBI members Cerrejon and HP in testing the framework's grievance mechanisms. “Business and human rights is not an ephemeral issue to be considered at some future date. It is and must remain at the core of our common concerns today.’ (para. 121). Link to the 2009 report
30 March 2010 - GBI address to American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt - GBI Director Kathryn Dovey and representatives from GBI core company members ABB and Al Mansour addressed the meeting of the AMCHAM CSR Committee on the subject of Safeguarding Human Rights in Business Practices. The address marks the start of GBIs engagements and focus in the MENA region. For audio file click here

2 March 2010 - Flextronics and Cerrejón join Global Business Initiative on Human Rights (GBI): GBI today formally announced that the Initiative's core group of members will be joined by Singapore-based electronics manufacturing services provider Flextronics and Colombian mining company Cerrejón. This follows on from the annoucement of membership of the core group by Egyptian company Mansour late last year, and marks another significant step in the Initiative's global programme, aimed at advancing human rights in business around the world. Core membership of the Initiative now includes: ABB Group, Cerrejón Coal Company, Flextronics International Limited, General Electric Company, HP, Mansour, Novo Nordisk A/S, Shell, The Coca-Cola Company and Total S.A.

9th February 2010 - Global Business Initiative on Human Rights Delhi Roundtable Report: In late 2009, GBI, together with local partners Global Compact Network India and Partners in Change, hosted a Roundtable in Delhi. Attended by around 100 representatives from business, civil society and government and aimed predominatly at businesses within the South Asia and South East Asia region, the event provided an opportunity for business-to-business learning, sharing and dialogue on human rights. Please click the icon below to view the Delhi Roundtable Report.

27 January 2010 - Mark Hodge, Director of the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights, talks with Bloomberg's Asia Confidential host Bernard Lo about Google and China in the context of the wider need for business to respect human rights. Click here for audio.

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