Name: ‘Smart Mix of Measures’ and Implications of European Legislative Developments in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Start: 2024-11-26T11:40:00+0100
End: 2024-11-26T13:00:00+0100

Tuesday November 26, 2024 11:40am - 1:00pm CET

Room XIX

Session co-organized by the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, the Polish Institute for Human Rights and Business (PL), Y. Mudryi National Law University (UA), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 

Interpretation provided in English, Chinese and Russian.

Brief description of the session:

Central and Eastern European and Central Asian countries are increasingly taking action to address the adverse impacts of business activities on people and the environment. This trend is being amplified by their varying levels of integration with the European Union—whether as EU member states, countries aspiring for accession, or due to close economic, political and other ties. With the adoption of EU regulations, particularly the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), due diligence requirements in the EU AI Act and CoE Framework Convention on AI and Human Rights, as well as national human rights due diligence requirements in countries like France and Germany, Central and Eastern European and Central Asian countries are facing new expectations.

This session will explore the practical implications of these recent European legal developments on how business is done in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders. It will focus on how governments are adapting their domestic legal frameworks to align with the new legally binding standards, and how businesses are preparing to meet these new obligations, particularly regarding enhanced human rights due diligence, how AI could be used in human rights due diligence. Furthermore, the session will examine how rights holders in the region can leverage these regulatory developments to ensure their rights are respected and to access effective remedies.

Key objectives of the session:

Exchange insights on the challenges faced by businesses and governments in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia as they work to meet the new European regulatory requirements, share methodologies for implementation, emerging practices and common mistakes.
Discuss how rights holders, including workers, worker organizations, and civil society groups, can use these regulatory changes to promote better models at national level, demand accountability and access remedies for human rights abuses within the region.

Speakers

Lyra Jakuleviciene

Vice-chairperson, UN Working Group on business and human rights

Ms. Lyra Jakulevičienė is an international legal scholar specialising in international and European Union law, human rights law in particular, for more than two decades. She is a Professor and the Dean of the Law School of Mykolas Romeris University in Lithuania. She has extensive... Read More →

Alise Artamonova

Associate, COBALT Legal

Alise is a business and human rights (BHR) lawyer from Latvia practicing in the ESG practice group of COBALT Legal – a pan-Baltic law firm. She is advising businesses and investors on integrating human rights and environmental considerations into their policies, contracts and processes... Read More →

Zsofia Kerecsen

Team leader – Corporate governance, Company Law Unit of DG JUST of the European Commission

Nina Tevdorashvili

EGS Manager, Akhalkalaki Hydroelectric Power Plant

My name is Nino (Nina) Tevdorashvili, and I am a sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) expert with over 19 years of experience across the energy, oil, gas, social, environmental, governance, and banking sectors. My work spans environmental assessments, stakeholder... Read More →

Marija Andjelkovic

Astra

Dr. Hab Ewa Flaszynska

Ministry of Labour of Poland

CEE Forum Session FINAL russian pdf

Tuesday November 26, 2024 11:40am - 1:00pm CET
Room XIX

Regional session, Webcasted

13th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights