Following two busy and productive weeks in Geneva for our member meeting and the UN Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights, below you will find a summary of our key events and engagements. It was valuable, as always, to connect with our members and other practitioners during our time together.
GBI MEMBER PEER LEARNING MEETING |
The week before the UN Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights, GBI held its second member peer learning meeting for 2019. Representatives of GBI member companies gathered to discuss a broad range of topics, including ‘beyond audit’ approaches, business and human rights challenges in transport and logistics, tracking progress on modern slavery and more. We also filmed members sharing experiences and tips to add to the GBI Business Practice Portal.
BUSINESS WANTS ACTION FROM GOVERNMENTS
On day one of the Forum, GBI co-organised a session exploring whether business prefers action or inaction from governments. Three GBI members – Shubar Sekhar of The Coca-Cola Company, Tony Khaw of NXP and Ines Andrade of Cerrejón – joined the panel to share insights from situations in which their companies have called on governments to do more on business and human rights. The panel observed that a government initiative is more likely to be practical and effective for business when it clarifies expectations, levels the playing field, shifts policy to practice and is simple to follow. Business support can provide governments with the confidence to take decisive action, including by introducing new regulatory requirements.
BUSINESS NETWORKING EVENT
We saw more than 200 business practitioners and representatives of key business organisations gathered to exchange updates, experiences and expertise from their human rights work. GBI CEO Ron Popper’s keynote challenged business to think critically about the need to ensure human rights due diligence is really effective, go beyond audits, consider adopting a stronger position in support of human rights defenders and disseminate learning and practice including to the next generation. The event was co-hosted by GBI with IoE and supported by Amfori, BDA, BSR, ICCWBO, ICMM, IPIECA, RBA, Swiss Green Economy Symposium, UN Global Compact, USCIB and WBCSD.
LEGISLATIVE APPROACHES TO ERADICATING MODERN SLAVERY
On the second day of the Forum, GBI Director Catie Shavin joined a panel to explore different legislative approaches taken by governments in the UK, Australia, Brazil and Hong Kong to eradicate modern slavery. Catie emphasised that laws such as the UK and Australian Modern Slavery Acts can benefit companies that are serious and committed to addressing modern slavery challenges. However, we need to be mindful that these laws do not reach companies that are not part of global value chains. Over time, it will be important to broaden the focus of modern slavery laws beyond modern slavery to encompass all human rights issues. More immediately, we need to build know-how amongst business practitioners and their professional advisors to ensure modern slavery laws drives meaningful action rather than a minimum-compliance approach.
CALLING FOR A ‘SMARTER MIX’
At the closing plenary on day three, GBI CEO Ron Popper challenged one of the buzz-phrases of the Forum. He called, not just for a smart mix, but a smarter mix of regulatory and voluntary measures to increase implementation of human rights in practice.
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As a result of our conversations with States, academia, civil society and business during the week, we’ll continue further engagement with key actors in the business and human rights space. We reconnected with many of you at the European Union’s Business and Human Rights: Towards a Common Agenda for Action conference and IHRB’s Next Generation Trade conference.