Summary
On the 10-year anniversary of the UN Human Rights Council’s unanimous endorsement of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), this report reflects on the status of business and human rights (BHR) in Asia, take stock of achievements to date, assess existing gaps and challenges, and, most importantly, develop an ambitious vision and roadmap for implementing the UNGPs more widely and more broadly between now and 2030.
The report presents focuses particularly (but not exclusively) on 11 countries demonstrating some progress on BHR. Desk research provided a baseline understanding of the current status of BHR in each of the 11 countries, but the research for this report went further to assess BHR on the ground. In the context of COVID-19, the research team conducted over 100 remote interviews with government, corporate and civil society actors—including trade unions—who work on BHR in Asia in various capacities.
The research pointed to several intriguing opportunities for the decade ahead. However, one finding stood apart. In Asia, the stage is set for approaches to BHR that are maximally inclusive and create change from the bottom up.