Five Years On - Chris Bennett on Bosnia-Herzegovina and Multistakeholderism in Post-Conflict Areas

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On June 16th 2011, the UN Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights. The Guiding Principles were unprecedented on many levels, including by reaffirming and clarifying state duties to protect against abuses involving business and by authoritatively setting out for the first time the human rights responsibilities of all companies. 

Five years on, IHRB reflects on the state of business and human rights, through a series of podcasts and commentaries.

 

Fair employment principles that aim to root out discrimination have a long history, going back to the Sullivan Principles in apartheid-era South Africa. In a wide-ranging conversation about the applicability of multistakeholder initiatives in post-conflict societies, Bennett spoke to IHRB's Salil Tripathi about the Bosnian situation. He stresses the importance of collaborative approaches, the need for rules-based principles drawn from international standards in contexts where government is re-establishing its authority, and the importance of ensuring that workforce is based on diversity, to prevent monoethnic dominance.

Christopher Bennett is the Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Historical Heritage in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. He has been Communications Director and the Deputy High Representative at the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He is the author of Bosnia's Paralysed Peace (2016), and Yugoslavia's Bloody Collapse (1995). He has also been the Balkans Director for the International Crisis Group in Sarajevo. He has also worked with the MacBride Principles for fair employment in Northern Ireland.