Latin America

GBI works with business practitioners in Latin America to provide opportunities for practial discussions abut human rights and help advance business practice.

We currently collaborate with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to support business-to-business peer learning in Brazil and Latin America. We organise regular workshops for a cross-industry group of business practitioners – including local colleagues and partners of GBI members – to exchange approaches, experiences and lessons learned on implementing respect for human rights in practice. These workshops also provide a forum for participants to learn about key trends and developments at a local level and around the world – and to discuss what they mean for business.

We have also partnered with local organisations to convene larger business roundtables on human rights in Colombia and Brazil. These dialogues provided unique opportunities for national and multinational company representatives to discuss practical approaches to managing human rights issues at a local level.

You can read updates on business and human rights in Latin America and access outputs from GBI's events below.

Recent developments include:

• Brazilian lawmakers introduced Bill 572/22 in March 2022. The draft bill sets out a proposal for mandatory human rights due diligence obligations for Brazilian companies and companies operating in Brazil. The bill is under consideration.
   
• In Mexico, a draft law on corporate sustainability and due diligence was put to the Senate for discussion and analysis in October 2020.
   
• In January 2020, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was signed, strengthening the protection of labour rights. A specific labour chapter in the USMCA requires each of the three countries to adopt and maintain labour rights as recognised by the International Labour Organisation and to enforce these laws effectively. It also includes provisions to take measures to prohibit the importation of goods produced by forced labour, to address violence against workers exercising their labour rights and to ensure that migrant workers are protected under labour laws.
   

• In November 2018, the Brazilian government established National Guidelines on Business and Human Rights (Portuguese). These Guidelines set out voluntary criteria that companies can use to implement respect for human rights. They are primarily targeted at medium-sized and large companies, but may also be used by smaller companies.

• Since 2015, listed companies in Chile have been required to report (Spanish) on social responsibility and sustainable development in their annual report. In January 2020, the Chilean Financial Market Commission ended a consultation (Spanish) on a proposal to broaden the information listed companies are required to disclose.

• In 2014, the Brazilian government introduced the Lista Suja (Dirty List) of companies found to have slave labour in their operations or supply chains. Companies placed on the list lose access to public contracts and public financing, and have restrictions placed on sales. The list was last updated (Portuguese) in April 2020.

• A number of governments in Latin America have developed – or are in the process of developing – National Action Plans (NAPs) on Business and Human Rights. In December 2015, Colombia became the first country in Latin America to publish a NAP. In August 2017, Chile published its NAP.  In June 2021, Peru published its NAP. Argentina, Honduras, Ecuador, Brazil and Mexico are also in the process of developing a NAP. Non-state processes to support a NAP are also underway in Guatemala and Nicaragua.