International Human Rights Day, December 10th, is a celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR is the milestone document in the history of human rights, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10th 1948 as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. It set out, for the first time, the fundamental human rights to be universally protected. It has been translated into over 500 languages, and paved the way for the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties.

Every year to mark International Human Rights Day, IHRB releases its annual Top 10 list of key business and human rights issues. These are the issues IHRB staff forecast as critical obstacles or opportunities to advancing business respect for human rights. Each year's list is based on our analysis of the global context, topical developments, and under-explored challenges. The list is often comprised of a mix of sectoral and thematic focuses, and offers both a diagnosis of a key problem as well as steps business, government, and civil society can and should take to overcome it.

The Top 10 is not an exact science and has evolved over the years as we at IHRB have explored the best way to reflect on forthcoming shared priorities. As always, we welcome your comments and feedback to comms [at] ihrb.org.