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UN Forum to address implementation of business and human rights standards

12th Forum on Business and Human Rights 27-29 November 2023

24 November 2023

GENEVA (24 November 2023) – The world’s largest global conference on business and human rights, convened by the United Nations, under the guidance of the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, will take place in Geneva, from 27 to 29 November 2023.

The 12th Forum on Business and Human Rights will take place under the theme “Towards Effective Change in Implementing Obligations, Responsibilities and Remedies.”

The Forum will bring together participants from government, business, institutional investors, law firms, community groups, indigenous peoples, and civil society organisations, UN bodies, national human rights institutions, trade unions, academia and the media.

The UN Forum is the world's largest annual gathering on business and human rights, with more than 2,000 participants from all regions.

Over three days, participants take part in 39 panel discussions on topics that relate to the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and current business-related human rights issues.

The Forum will provide the space for all stakeholders to take part in dialogue to find solutions to some of the most pressing and difficult questions facing the world. Sessions will focus on actions that States have taken to incorporate the Guiding Principals in regulations and policies, how businesses have applied the Guiding Principals in their practices throughout their operations, and whether judicial and non-judicial remedies are more available and accessible to those negatively impacted by business-related human rights abuses.

Among the speakers will be:

  • Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations
  • Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
  • Celeste Drake, Deputy Director-General, International Labour Organisation
  • Edward Kwakwa, Assistant Director-General, Global Challenges and Partnerships Sector, World Intellectual Property Organization
  • Kimiko Hirata, Goldman Environmental Prize laureate in 2021, and the Executive Director of Climate Integrate
  • Chilekwa Mumba, Goldman Environmental Prize laureate in 2023

The Forum is open to the media. Please register at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/events/sessions/2023/12th-united-nations-forum-business-and-human-rights

The UN Working Group on human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (known as the Working Group on Business and Human Rights) was established by the UN Human Rights Council in June 2011 to promote worldwide dissemination and implementation of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The Working Group is composed of five independent experts, of balanced geographical representation. Its current members are: Mr. Damilola S. Olawuyi (Chairperson), Mr. Robert McCorquodale (Vice-Chairperson), Ms. Fernanda Hopenhaym , Ms. Pichamon Yeophantong and Ms. Elżbieta Karska.

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011 (resolution 17/4), provide the authoritative global standard for action to safeguard human rights in a business context, clarifying what is expected by governments and companies to prevent and address impacts on human rights arising from business activity.

The Working Group is part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world.

For further information and media requests, please write to ohchr-forumbhr@un.org.

For media enquiries regarding other UN independent experts, please contact Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org) or Maya Derouaz (maya.derouaz@un.org)

For the latest updates, follow the Forum on twitter at: @WGBizHRs (Hashtags: #UNForumBHR #BizHumanRights) and Follow OHCHR on social media.

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