This Way Up: Unpacking human rights for business: Recent Episodes
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
This Way Up: Unpacking human rights for business is the first podcast from Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. Over the course of each mini-series, we will outline and interrogate the latest issues related to business and human rights, bringing together diverse expertise from front-line activists, civil society, companies, investors and academia. The aim? To figure out together which way is "up" - the actions we must take to ensure continually improving corporate respect for human rights.
How can we advance the human rights agenda in private equity? Private capital markets have seen enormous growth in recent years, and their largely unregulated, under-scrutinised nature creates conditions for exploitative practices and human rights risks. But private equity funds have significant leverage over portfolio companies, and investors have a unique opportunity to push for better practice and advance respect for human rights. For this special episode from BHRRC and BSR, Áine Clarke is joined by Paloma Muñoz Quick from BSR, author and corporate accountability advocate Benjamin Cokelet, and Michael Musuraca, Strategic Advisor on ESG and Labour at Blue Wolf Capital.
Episode glossary
ESG investing – Environmental, Social & Governance
PE – Private Equity
LPA – Limited Partner Agreement
LP – Limited Partners
GP – General Partners
The economic systems that have fuelled growth in the 21st century have done so, largely, at a grave cost to workers in the Global South. The Covid-19 pandemic brought deep-rooted drivers of inequality and exploitation into sharp relief, be it directly in companies failing to afford workers the protections necessary to continue to work without fear of transmission, or indirectly in those who failed to ensure security for at-risk workers in their supply chain. For this episode, we were joined by a live online audience to discuss the vision for the next decade of the guiding principles, and the role they can play in supporting a just recovery from the pandemic.
Your panel for this episode includes:
- Phil Bloomer, Executive Director, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
- Dante Pesce, Founder and Executive Director of the VINCULAR Center for Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development at the Catholic University of Valparaíso, Chile.
- Surya Deva, Associate Professor at the School of Law of City University of Hong Kong.
- Anita Ramasastry, Roland L. Hjorth Professor of Law and the Director of the Graduate Program in Sustainable International Development at the University of Washington School Of Law.
Gender discrimination and intersecting structures of marginalisation mean women and girls experience unique and disproportionate business-related human rights abuses. Recent work on the UNGPs acknowledges the structural gender barriers at play, but much still needs to be done by governments and businesses to translate policies into practices that protect and advance the rights of women and girls. How do business operations both perpetuate and exacerbate gender discrimination? Has the UNGP framework been a useful tool for gender justice - and what opportunities and challenges lie ahead?
Your panel for this episode includes:
- Golda Benjamin, Programme Director, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
- Anannya Bhattacharjee, International Coordinator, Asia Floor Wage Alliance
- Professor Surya Deva, Vice Chair of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
- Kayla Winarsky Green, Human Rights and Business Adviser, Danish Institute for Human Rights
Standards on investor responsibility for human rights have evolved substantially over the past decade. Guidance including the UNGPs and OECD guidelines expect investors to clearly state, identify and address how they are respecting human rights within, and how they are using their influence over companies to ensure access to remedy. But how has this translated into action, what can we learn from the positive impacts and how can we mitigate the limitations?
Your panel for this episode includes:
- Christen Dobson, Senior Programme Manager & Researcher, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
- Michelle Cook, Founder, Divest Invest Protect
- Steven Heim, Managing Director, Boston Common Asset Management
- Anita Dorett, Program Director, Investor Alliance for Human Rights
Any securities mentioned during the podcast are not a recommendation to buy or sell.
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) provide a globally agreed upon standard and framework for states and companies to prevent, address and remedy human rights abuses linked to business operations. Since their adoption ten years ago, the concept of human rights due diligence – which was first introduced by the UNGPs – has seen increasing uptake in policy frameworks, and is currently at the centre of legislative developments, particularly in Europe.
This episode discusses the role mandatory measures can play in further driving respect for human rights in business, what mandatory measures need to look like to be effective and how we can make mandatory due diligence work across regions.
Your panel for this episode includes:
- Mauricio Lazala, Deputy Director, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
- Anabella Sibrián, Director, Protection International Mesoamerica
- Joan Carling, Global Director, Indigenous Peoples Rights International
- Johannes Blankenbach, EU/Western Europe Researcher & Representative, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre