Event information

28 November 2023, 15:00-16:30
Register start 21 November 2023
Register end 28 November 2023

Alpha in Adversity

Event

Open mine Open mine

It is in conflict-affected and high-risk areas where salient human rights risks to people most often translate into financially material risks to companies and their shareholders. It is therefore incumbent upon investors to Identify, assess, and address these severe and systemic risks in order to uphold their responsibilities to rights holders under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and their fiduciary duties to their clients. However, guidance on heightened human rights due diligence for investors and their role in advancing rights-respecting conduct in these contexts is still largely lacking.

With the number, intensity, and duration of conflicts and rights violations by authoritarian states on the rise, this conversation is an important opportunity to explore current challenges to rights-respecting investment in conflict-affected and high-risk areas, practical guidance for approaching the (human rights) saliency / (financial) materiality nexus in investment portfolios and company engagements, and evolving investor action.

This discussion will be built around an upcoming white paper from Heartland Initiative, Schroders, and Wespath Benefits & Investments on the ‘saliency-materiality nexus’.

Introduction

  • Dr Erica Harper, Head of Research and Policy Studies, Geneva Academy

Moderation

  • Gerald Pachoud, Managing Partner, Pluto Advisory

Speakers

  • Katie Frame, Active Ownership Manager, Schroders
  • Samuel Jones, President, Heartland Initiative
  • Rebecca DeWinter-Schmitt, Associate Director, Investor Alliance for Human Rights

 

Disclaimer

This event may be filmed, recorded and/or photographed on behalf of the Geneva Academy. The Geneva Academy may use these recordings and photographs for internal and external communications for information, teaching and research purposes, and/or promotion and illustration through its various media channels (website, social media, newsletters, annual report, etc.).

By participating in this event, you are agreeing to the possibility of appearing in the aforementioned films, recordings and photographs, and their subsequent use by the Geneva Academy.

MORE ON THIS THEMATIC AREA

Expert Roundtable on Opportunities for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Human Rights Monitoring News

Expert Roundtable on Opportunities for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Human Rights Monitoring

19 November 2024

The Geneva Human Rights Platform hosted an expert roundtable with the theme 'Opportunities for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Human Rights Monitoring.'

Read more

Human Rights Tiles News

From Signals to Action: Strengthening the UN's Conflict Prevention Efforts

31 March 2025

Our recent research brief series explores how the United Nations' human rights system can enhance its role in early warning and conflict prevention.

Read more

Warzone Event

Advanced IHL Seminar for Academics and Policymakers

25-29 August 2025, 09:00-17:30

Co-hosted with the ICRC, this event aims to enhance the capacity of academics to teach and research international humanitarian law, while also equipping policymakers with an in-depth understanding of ongoing legal debates.

Read more

Event

Strengths and Weaknesses of Inter-State Cases before the European Court of Human Rights

12 May 2025, 18:30-20:00

In this Geneva Academy Talk Judge Lətif Hüseynov will discuss the challenges of inter-State cases under the ECHR, especially amid rising conflict-related applications.

Read more

Training

Human Rights and the Environment: Introducing Legal Regimes and Key Issues

1-8 September 2025

Participants in this training course will be introduced to the major international and regional instruments for the promotion of human rights, as well as international environmental law and its implementation and enforcement mechanisms.

Read more

Universal Declaration of Human Rights Booklet Training

The International Human Rights Standards and System: Monitoring and Implementation Strategies at the National Level

7-11 July 2025

This training course will delve into the means and mechanisms through which national actors can best coordinate their human rights monitoring and implementation efforts, enabling them to strategically navigate the UN human rights system and use the various mechanisms available in their day-to-day work.

Read more

Plastic pollution on an Italian shore Project

Unpacking the Human Right to a Healthy Environment: Definition, Implementation and Impact

Started in January 2022

This research aims at mainstreaming the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and the protection it affords in the work of the UN Human Rights Council, its Special Procedures and Universal Periodic Review, as well as in the work of the UN General Assembly and UN treaty bodies.

Read more

Project

The Lake Room Initiative (Space for Dialogue)

Started in February 2024

Read more

Cover of the publication Publication

Briefing N° 25: Localizing Multilateralism

published on March 2025

Domenico Zipoli, Ludovica Chiussi Curzi, Kamelia Kemileva

Read more

Cover page of the working paper Publication

AI Decoded: Key Concepts and Applications of Artificial Intelligence for Human Rights and SDG Monitoring

published on January 2025

Milica Mirkovic, Jennifer Victoria Scurrell

Read more