Interpretation available in Arabic, Chinese, Russian, English, French, and Spanish.
The annual
Forum on Business and Human Rights is the UN's platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue to assess the progress made by States and businesses in translating the three pillars to "Protect, Respect and Remedy" of the
Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) from paper to practice, identifying challenges and salient issues and discussing what is needed to address them adequately.
The opening plenary of the 13
th session of the UN Annual Forum, titled
"Making the ‘Smart Mix’ Effective for Human Rights in Business", will provide different stakeholders' perspectives
on the main theme of the Forum. Among other objectives, the opening plenary seeks to provide inspiration and help set the tone for constructive and solution-oriented dialogue over subsequent discussions. A main aim is to provide a space in which stakeholders can reflect on what the ‘smart mix of measures’ – national, international, voluntary and mandatory – means in practice to strengthen protection of, and respect for, human rights in the context of business activities, now and into the future, looking in particular at what has worked and not worked, and what still needs to be achieved for “smart mix”-driven changes to be effective, especially for rights-holders.
A key goal is to provide a global platform for stakeholder dialogue to explore key trends at the national, regional, and global levels in relation to the implementation of the UNGPs through a “smart mix”, and to identify positive practices in the actions of States, businesses, and other stakeholders on which progress can be built.
Format:The plenary session will consist of a segment of high-level opening remarks, followed by a high-level dialogue featuring the reflections of stakeholders from different stakeholder groups and regions.
Key reference: Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
