UNIDO>
25 March 2022
Our new Working Paper Strengthening State Accountability on Business and Human Rights at International Level examines existing mechanisms at the national, regional and international levels for holding states accountable for their performance in implementing the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). In doing so, the paper analyses gaps and opportunities and formulates a series of recommendations to improve this accountability.
‘Ten years after the UNGPs adoption – and as highlighted by the UNGPs 10+ Roadmap for the Next Decade of Business and Human Rights – it is key to ensure that proper implementation mechanisms are in place’ explains Felix Kirchmeier, Manager of Policy Studies at the Geneva Academy.
Geneva Academy
UN
UNIDO>
The paper analyzes the role, shortcomings and potential for accountability of national action plans on business and human rights, of the work of UN human rights mechanisms, as well as of peer review initiatives like the OECD. It develops specific recommendations to enhance accountability, notably via the development of implementation indicators and a centralized database to track and evaluate progress over time.
‘This paper will be of interest to policy-makers and state representatives who try to install stronger, albeit ‘soft law’ mechanisms for accountability’ underlines Felix Kirchmeier.
This paper forms part of our research that accompanied the development of the UNGPs 10+ Roadmap for the Next Decade of Business and Human Rights by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.
It also complements our research on disruptive technologies and rights-based resilience that supports the development of regulatory and policy responses to human rights challenges linked to digital technologies, including vis the implementation of the UNGPs in the technology space.
Adobe
Our new Briefing The Universality of Human Rights: Developing Narratives to Overcome Polarization zooms into the main challenges that the idea of universality faces nowadays and seeks to offer some elements to devise a more consequential and effective narrative of human rights universality to overcome these challenges.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
Our new working paper Assessment Tool for Special Procedures' Impact Evaluation – Developing an Initial Framework examines how to further develop methodologies to appraise the impact of UN Special Procedures.
OUP
This event marks the publication of the second, fully revised and updated, edition of ‘The UN Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol. A Commentary’.
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.
Adobe
This training course will explore the major international and regional instruments for the promotion of human rights, as well as with their implementation and enforcement mechanisms; and provide practical insights into the different UN human rights mechanisms pertinent to advancing environmental issues and protecting environmental human rights defenders.
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
UN Photo
This research aimed at taking stock of and contributing to a better understanding of the above-mentioned challenges to the principle of universality of human rights while also questioning their validity.
Geneva Academy