What Irish businesses need to know about human rights

Launch of DFA guidance for business enterprises and practical webinar

The Trinity Centre for Social Innovation of Trinity Business School in collaboration with the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights and the Human Rights Unit of the Department of Foreign Affairs are delighted to invite you to the launch of new guidance on business and human rights for business enterprises followed by a practical business webinar.

This event is targeted at business practitioners from Irish companies from diverse functions – including legal and compliance, sustainability, procurement, human resources and external affairs.

As part of the National Plan on Business and Human Rights 2017-2020, the Department of Foreign Affairs has worked with the Implementation Group for the National Plan to develop guidance for business enterprises on their human rights responsibilities.

BITCI are part of the the Department of Foreign Affairs Implementation Group on Business and Human Rights, who are responsible for the guidance toolkit to be launched at this event.

This guidance will be formally launched by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, Simon Coveney, as part of this event.

Following a recent study from the Trinity Centre for Social Innovation benchmarking Irish businesses on their human rights efforts, this webinar aims to support business practitioners to position their companies to meet their human rights responsibilities and comply with emerging regulatory requirements. The event will be chaired and moderated by Maximilian Schormair, Assistant Professor in Business Ethics at Trinity Business School. Catie Shavin, Director of GBI, Ron Popper, CEO of GBI, and Benn Hogan, Manager at GBI & Trinity CSI Visiting Researcher, will share their expertise and practical insights on business and human rights implementation.

Join this webinar to:

• Better understand what the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and stakeholders expect of businesses in practice.
• Discuss practical approaches that businesses in Ireland and around the world are taking to meet their human rights responsibilities, including by conducting human rights due diligence.
• Explore how human rights-related legal and policy developments will affect your business.

Register here for this webinar on 15 April 2021 | 11.00 – 12.15 GMT+1:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VS0i_nnQTQaHbGsJZQ9aUw

Additional background information

Businesses around the world increasingly see the value of demonstrating that they are taking effective action to manage the risk of adverse human rights impacts. 

A wide range of stakeholders – including government authorities, investors, customers and other business partners, civil society organisations, consumers and affected groups – now expect companies to demonstrate that they are meeting their responsibility to respect human rights as set out in international standards, such as the UNGPs. Further, the European Commission is currently developing a draft EU mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence law. This proposal is likely to require many Irish businesses to implement and report on human rights due diligence processes across their supply chains. Efforts to support responsible and sustainable global value chains are also an increasing focus of pandemic recovery strategies and plans. Now is the time to begin the process of engagement with the human rights responsibilities of your business.

About the organisers of this event:

Trinity Centre for Social Innovation, Trinity Business School

The Trinity Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) of Trinity Business School aims to make a positive impact on society and the environment through engagement, research, innovation and teaching. CSI researchers work on important topics, such as sustainability, business ethics and CSR, corporate governance as well as business and human rights. CSI has recently published the 2020 Benchmarking Report on Business and Human Rights in Ireland with the aim to start a constructive conversation with business practitioners about the way forward on this crucial issue.

The National Plan on Business and Human Rights 2017-2020 

The first National Plan on Business and Human Rights was launched by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2017 to give effect to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It aims to promote responsible business practices at home and overseas. Ireland is only one of 21 countries to have published such a National Action Plan. An independently-chaired multi-stakeholder implementation group oversees the implementation of the commitments contained within the National Plan.

The Global Business Initiative on Human Rights

The Global Business Initiative on Human Rights (GBI) is a business-led organisation that seeks to advance corporate respect for human rights through peer learning and by engaging globally to share insights from business practice. GBI has 22 member companies representing diverse industries and headquartered in different regions. GBI supports standalone and ongoing engagement on human rights among business practitioners at a global level and in key regions and countries around the world.

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