Day 1 | 20 September

OPENING PLENARY

09:00-10:30 ICT

Background

The adoption of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in 2011 proved to be an inflection point in advancing responsible business behavior and corporate accountability. The UNGPs established a global, authoritative framework for States and businesses to prevent and address business-related adverse impacts on human rights, including those relating to labour rights, gender equality, children’s rights, conflict, and corruption, as well as collective challenges such as climate change and environmental degradation, gender equality, conflict, corruption and among others.

Since 2011, various governments have developed national action plans on business and human rights (NAPs) outlining their strategies to promote responsible business practices. In the Asia-Pacific region, Thailand, Japan and Pakistan formally adopted their stand-alone NAPs in 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively. Other countries are currently in the process of developing NAPs, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal and Viet Nam.

In recent years, there has also been a strong push to realize the so-called “smart mix of measures” by moving from voluntary towards mandatory initiatives, notably around human rights due diligence. Mandatory human rights due diligence legislation has been adopted or is in development in various European countries. Moreover, the European Commission recently published a proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence which envisages European Union-wide obligations for businesses to address their adverse human rights and environmental impacts. Similarly, the United States and other jurisdictions are passing or implementing legislation that prevents the import of goods produced with forced labour. These and other mandatory measures can have far-reaching implications for the region. And although none of these standards, policies and legislations are perfect, they reflect the progressive evolution of responsible business concepts into more durable norms.

Indeed, while the uptake of responsible business practices by businesses has been modest and uneven, in some instances shifting business attitudes can be observed. Ongoing conflicts provide a case in point, where some multinational corporations have attempted to exit conflict-affected markets in a responsible manner and disassociate themselves with their linkages to or involvement in gross human rights violations.

At the same time, a degree of scepticism remains among affected rights holders and civil society actors about the real-life impact of top-down strategies and measures to promote responsible business, in effect spotlighting the need for meaningful participation of rights holders in State and business-led initiatives. The 3rd UN Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum in June 2021 reflected on this need as well as the deeply rooted vulnerabilities and inequalities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for women, children, informal workers, migrant workers, displaced persons, refugees, older persons, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples and human rights defenders. It further highlighted the need to view the crisis as an opportunity to drive meaningful change reflected in concrete policies at the national level. The global Covid-19 pandemic has reversed hard-fought progress on various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across the Asia-Pacific region, including SDG 8 on decent work, SDG 5 on gender equality, and SDG 10 on reduced inequalities, among others. Similarly, according to a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global emissions need to peak by 2025 if global warming is to be kept below 1.5°C. To ensure climate justice and address the triple planetary crisis, States and businesses must step up climate action before ecosystems fail. Sadly, UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutierres recently cautioned that “[s]ome government and business leaders are saying one thing, but doing another.” In addition to these and other challenges, rights holders face additional adverse impacts related to shrinking civic space, harassment and threats against human rights defenders, corruption, informal employment and corporate capture of processes and institutions designed to improve the lives of rights holders.

Thus, while the uptake of responsible business by a range of different actors in recent years is encouraging, much more is needed to make a difference in the daily lives of people who disproportionately face adverse impacts of business activity. Against this background, the 4th UN Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum provides an opportunity to reflect on the “levers of change” at our disposal and how they can be harnessed to strengthen corporate accountability and responsible business.

Objectives

The Forum aims to:

Take stock of progress and discuss challenges in promoting responsible business practices in the Asia-Pacific region, and explore lessons learned;
Reflect and build on the lessons learned to scale up progress on responsible business and showcase innovative strategies to that effect;
Promote collaboration and networking among a wide range of stakeholders, including rights holders, governments, businesses and industry associations, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations, trade unions, human rights defenders, academia, lawyers, and journalists.

Day1 programme

SPEAKERS

Pichamon Yeophantong

Pichamon Yeophantong serves as the Vice-Chairperson and Member from Asia-Pacific States on the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights. She is also Associate Professor and Head of Research at the Centre for Future Defence and National Security, Deakin University. As a political scientist, Pichamon teaches and publishes field-based research on business and human rights, and the political economy of sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific.

Ambassador Jon Åström Gröndahl

H.E. Mr Jon Åström Gröndahl has been the Swedish Ambassador to Thailand since September 2020. He is also accredited to Lao PDR, Cambodia and the Ambassador-Designate to Myanmar.
Ambassador Jon previously served as Deputy Director-General & Head of Department for Consular Affairs and Civil Law at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm from 2015 to 2020. From 2011 to 2013, he was Deputy Director & Head of Consular Section.
Previously, he served as Head of the Middle East Section at the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Directorate, Armed Forces Headquarters from 2008 to 2011. He has worked as First Secretary at the Embassy of Sweden in Islamabad, Political Advisor ISAF/PRT Mazar e-Sharif, Afghanistan in 2007 to 2008.
After entering the Foreign Service in 2002 and up to 2007 he served in various positions at different MFA Departments, including Middle East and North Africa and the Office of the Minister for Development Cooperation.
Ambassador Jon holds Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from Lund University (Sweden). He is married to Ambassador Helena Gröndahl Rietz and has one daughter.

Tomoya Obokata

Tomoya Obokata is a Japanese scholar of international law and human rights, specialising in transnational organised crime, human trafficking and modern slavery. He was appointed as the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences in March 2020. He currently serves as Professor of International Human Rights Law at York Law School, and previously taught at Keele University, Queen's University Belfast and Dundee University (all in the United Kingdom Great Britain and Northern Ireland). He has extensive experience of working on the issues of transnational crime, human trafficking and modern slavery with relevant stakeholders, including the UK Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, the Northern Ireland Assembly All Party Group on Human Trafficking, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, the International Organisation for Migration and the European Union. Mr. Obokata also worked as a legal clerk for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Japan. He has published widely on the topics mentioned.

Nareeluc Pairchaiyapoom

Director of International Human Rights Division, The Department of Rights and Liberties Protection, Ministry of Justice of Thailand

Marie Joyce Godio

Joyce is an Ibaloi-Kankanaey-Kalanguya of the Igorots of Cordillera, Philippines. She has worked on various social development initiatives in the Philippines and other countries in the ASEAN region before working with indigenous peoples’ movements in Asia and beyond. She's currently with Indigenous Peoples Rights International as Legal Defense and Sanctuary Fund coordinator and support to advocacy team.

Shusmita Anis

Ms. Shusmita Anis was inducted as Director of ACI Formulations Limited in 2003 and appointed as the Managing Director of the Company in 2012. She has also been a Director of Advanced Chemical Industries Limited since 2000 and 12 other subsidiary organization including ACI Foundation, a non-profit organization. She completed her graduation in Fine Arts in Graphic Design from San Jose, California, USA.
Ms. Shusmita Anis is also serving as the Vice-President of Bangladesh Employers’ Federation (BEF) for the term 2021-22.

David R. Boyd

David R. Boyd was appointed as the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment for a three-year term commencing August 1, 2018. He is an associate professor of law, policy, and sustainability at the University of British Columbia.

Mr. Boyd has a PhD in Resource Management and Environmental Studies from UBC, a law degree from the University of Toronto, and a business degree from the University of Alberta. His career has included serving as the executive director of Ecojustice, appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada, and working as a special advisor on sustainability for Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. He has advised many governments on environmental, constitutional, and human rights policy and co-chaired Vancouver’s effort to become the world’s greenest city by 2020. He is a member of the World Commission on Environmental Law, an expert advisor for the UN’s Harmony with Nature Initiative, and a member of ELAW, the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide.

Mr. Boyd is also the author of nine books and over 100 reports and articles on environmental law and policy, human rights, and constitutional law. His most recent books include The Rights of Nature (ECW Press, 2017), The Optimistic Environmentalist (ECW Press, 2015), Cleaner, Greener, Healthier: A Prescription for Stronger Canadian Environmental Laws and Policies (UBC Press, 2015) and The Environmental Rights Revolution: A Global Study of Constitutions, Human Rights, and the Environment (UBC Press, 2012).

Livio Sarandrea

Livio Sarandrea is UNDP's Business and Human Rights Global Policy Advisor and Team Leader of B+HR Asia. He is a human rights lawyer with 20 years of field experience in Southeast Europe, Africa and Asia, Livio has advised and managed programs on Business and Human Rights, in support of National Human Rights Institutions, Access to Justice, Conflict Prevention, Transitional Justice and Security Sector Reform for OSCE, DPKO/OHCHR and UNDP.

United Nations Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum, Asia-Pacific