Panel Discussion on the State of Business and Human Rights

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In the past quarter century, global civil society organisations and policy-makers have increasingly focused on corporate conduct and examined impacts on human rights. Following the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights adopted in 2011, governments have introduced some regulations, NGOs have run campaigns, some CSOs and governments are seeking to draft a new treaty to address business and human rights issues, companies have proactively developed policies, and multistakeholder initiatives have explored new ways of working to address common challenges. There are of course new challenges, including those posed by companies from the parts of the world which have not been part of the global human rights and business discourse, the use of technology and its wider prevalence, and the climate crisis.

In November, IHRB's Salil Tripathi held a discussion with Froydis Cameron-Johansson, group head of international and government relations at Anglo American, Marcela Manubens, global vice president at Unilever for integrated social sustainability, Mark Taylor, post doctoral fellow at the faculty of law at the University of Oslo, and Pia Rudolfsson Goyer, an independent expert on business and human rights in Norway, at the University of Bergen in Norway, where IHRB runs an annual masters course with Rafto Foundation on business and human rights. In the discussion, the experts discussed the progress thus far, the challenges ahead, and the need for a consensus-driven approach.