Background

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UNDP Asia-Pacific, through its Business and Human Rights (B+HR) unit in the Bangkok Regional Hub, has played a central role in strengthening Asia's business and human rights agenda. Over the past seven years, UNDP has engaged/collaborated with a wide range of stakeholders to support policy development, promote human rights practices in business, amplify the voices of rights holders, and advocate for effective access to remedy and grievance mechanisms. 

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As UNDP develops its Vision 2030 for B+HR programming in Asia, it is conducting consultations to ensure programming responds to the needs and capacities of relevant stakeholders and institutions.

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About the Consultation and One-on-One Guidance Sessions

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During the 2024 UN Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum (UNRBHR Forum), which will take place in Bangkok (Thailand) on 24-27 September 2024, UNDP and Pillar Two will conduct a consultation with the business sector to inform the development of UNDP’s Business Sector Engagement Strategy for the Asia Pacific Region.  

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The consultation aims to engage private sector representatives in a critical dialogue on the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Facilitated by a global business and human rights specialist from UNDP and an expert from Pillar Two, the session seeks to identify the challenges businesses face in embedding human rights principles across their operations, value chains, and partnerships. By addressing key areas such as due diligence, stakeholder engagement, and human rights due diligence requirements under the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), this consultation will foster a collaborative environment where businesses can express their needs, share insights, and explore opportunities for meaningful partnerships with the UNDP, other UN agencies, and civil society organizations (CSOs).

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Businesses participating in the consultation will have priority to schedule a one-on-one guidance session. These confidential guidance sessions are designed to support individual companies through guidance and advice by Pillar Two and UNDP.

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Objectives​​​

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• Understand Business Challenges and Support Needs: To assess the key challenges businesses face in identifying, preventing, mitigating and addressing human rights issues in their operations and supply chains in Asia, and assess the specific support needed from UNDP and other UN agencies to overcome these obstacles beyond traditional training and toolkits.

• Prepare for Future Human Rights Due Diligence Requirements: To gauge business preparedness for meeting the human rights due diligence requirements, including the CSDDD, and to determine the additional support needed to strengthen readiness and implementation efforts.

• Enhance Collaboration and Leverage Opportunities: To explore opportunities for businesses to collaborate with regional and local civil society organizations (and use leverage in business relationships) to prevent and mitigate human rights abuses, with a focus on developing common standards, fostering partnerships, and advancing shared responsibility across value chains.

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Consultation

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A 90-minute group consultation session will be conducted on 24 September at the UNRBHR Forum. The session will feature 20-25 businesses participating in the UNRBHR Forum with business activities in Asia. Pre-registration for the group consulting session will be required. A link to the registration portal will be shared with businesses registered for the UNRBHR Forum in advance. Organizers will make all possible efforts to have a diversity of invited businesses, including by size, sector, country, ownership, and structure, including those from the ranks of SMEs. 

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A UNDP Global Business and Human Rights Specialist and a Pillar Two Expert will facilitate the consultation with a focus on the following questions:  

• What are the key challenges for businesses operating in the Asia-Pacific region in the overall implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), for example, in terms of due diligence, stakeholder engagement, building and exercising leverage, remediation and grievance mechanisms?   

• What support, tools, networks or guidance is needed to address these challenges?

• What are the opportunities to strengthen collaboration with external stakeholders, including regional and local civil society organizations?   

• How are businesses in the region preparing for the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)? 

• What is needed to move towards the CSDDD’s principle of shared responsibility for respecting human rights along value chains (e.g., through responsible purchasing practices)? 

• What support does your business need from UNDP (and other UN Agencies) to carry out human rights due diligence and better prepare for the CSDDD?  

• What is needed to increase awareness and understanding of the UNGPs across businesses operating in Asia-Pacific?  

• How can UNDP best support businesses in the region to navigate the evolving business and human rights landscape?  

 

One-on-One Guidance Sessions

Following the group consultation session, UNDP Business and Human Rights Specialists (global and regional) and the Pillar Two Expert will conduct one-on-one, 20-minute guidance sessions with businesses on the remaining days of the UNRBHR Forum (25-27 September 2024).  

 

Sessions will be open to all interested businesses – both those participating in the group consultation session on Day 1 and those deciding to benefit from an in-depth one-on-one discussion on the spot. 

 

Pre-registration and submission of background information on a business’ challenges in implementing the UNGPs will be strongly encouraged. Yet, on-the-spot registration will also be made available and promoted during the UNRBHR Forum, with several timeslots kept open for businesses not registered in advance.  

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The aim of the guidance sessions is to provide an opportunity for businesses operating in the region to discuss key challenges they are facing with respect to implementing the UNGPs and learn from experts about good practice examples. Businesses participating in the consultation will have priority to schedule a one-on-one guidance session.

 

To ensure that the sessions are as tailored as possible, pre-registration and submission of two questions and/or challenges is strongly encouraged. On-the-spot registration will also be made available and promoted during the RBHR Forum, with several timeslots kept open for businesses not registered in advance. 

 

Guidance sessions will apply the methodology of the UNDP B+HR Academy and will aim to:  

• Learn from businesses about their challenges in implementing the UNGPs, and identify patterns and trends specific to businesses’ size, sector, country, ownership, structure, etc., and/or the Asia Pacific Region; and  

• Provide tailor-made advisory support to businesses to overcome identified challenges (within the time constraints of the sessions). ​​​