Moving Beyond Voluntarism: Looking to the Future of the Voluntary Principles Initiative on Security and Human Rights

This year’s annual meeting of the Voluntary Principles Initiative (VPI), (the multistakeholder platform set up in 2000 to help extractive industries ensure their security operations respect human rights), considered an issue that, perhaps...

The Global Migration Compact and the Role of Business

On May 17, UN member-state delegates and key stakeholders met at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City to debate the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. This historic document outlines a shared...

IOM Commentary on Dhaka Principle 3 – Policies and Procedures Are Inclusive

Throughout 2022, IHRB is marking ten years of the Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity with guest commentaries from representatives of business, trade unions, civil society organisations, and the UN system that reflect on the continuing...

How Businesses Can Step Up for Human Rights During this Global Crisis

Improving Development Outcomes Through the Responsible Recruitment of Migrant Workers

This Monday, governments meet at the United Nations in New York for the first International Migration Review Forum - an intergovernmental platform to discuss and share progress on the implementation of The Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Regular...

Why Business Might Thwart the UK Government’s Rwanda Asylum Export Plan

The recently announced plan to forcibly export asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda is, according to UNHCR, likely also to be illegal under international law. States which are party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention cannot legally derogate from...

On Twitter – Why Free Speech Is Too Important to be Left in the Hands of Elon Musk

There is an old journalistic axiom, that if you are annoying the left and the right, you are doing something right.

Twitter may have thought it was at that sweet spot, since the medium enrages those who want the platform to ban preachers of hate...

Why Convert Twitter into a Public Trust – A Radical Idea

Elon Musk has set Twitter on fire by proposing to buy-out existing shareholders of the popular social media platform and to take it private. To put it bluntly, placing a global public square (as Twitter fashions itself to be) in the hands of a...

Freedom from Fear-Based Immigration: Ten Years on Dhaka Principle 2

Throughout 2022, IHRB is marking ten years of the Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity with guest commentaries from representatives of business, trade unions, civil society organisations, and the UN system that reflect on the continuing...

Calling for People-Centred Net-Zero Scrutiny

This Earth Day is marked by the IPCC’s latest major reports, both on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability and on Mitigation. We have less than three years to halt the rise of global emissions and less than a decade to cut them in half. The oil and...

Can Sanctions, Boycotts and Divestment Achieve Human Rights Outcomes?

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters a second painful month, more questions are being asked about the extent to which sanctions, boycotts and divestment campaigns can change the behaviour of Russian leaders, and what the wider human rights...

P&O Ferries in Deep Water: Labour Outsourcing is Not an Escape from Human Rights Responsibilities

The decision by UK shipping company P&O Ferries to fire 800 staff without notice and to replace them with agency workers is the latest example of how outsourcing is increasingly used as a business strategy to reduce labour costs and secure the...

Reflections from Tesco on Ten Years of Dhaka Principle 1 – No Fees Are Charged to Migrant Workers

Throughout 2022, IHRB is marking ten years of the Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity with guest commentaries from representatives of business, trade unions, civil society organisations, and the UN system that reflect on the continuing...

Human Rights Due Diligence and Corporate Boards: Reflections on European Commission Proposals Relating to Director Duties and Board Oversight

Last year, we highlighted why we believed human rights due diligence needed to be a mandated concern of corporate boards.

We cited disasters, such as the Brumadinho, Córrego de Feijão dam collapse in Brazil and the destruction of cultural heritage...

Women And Girls at the Centre of Transformation in the Built Environment

As governments have recognized in multiple fora, action on climate change must be closely connected with action to address gender inequality. This applies to cities and towns, which are undergoing many transformations. They need to strengthen their...

Tech Companies Have Crucial Responsibilities in the Attack on Ukraine – Misinformation, Virtual Warfare and Arbitrating Truth

Companies are distancing themselves from the unfolding invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation:

• Major western oil companies such as BP, Shell, and Exxon Mobil have cut ties with Russian oil companies and joint ventures, decisions which...

Why Labour Law Protections for Migrant Workers are at the Heart of the Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity - Reflections from the ILO

Throughout 2022, IHRB is marking ten years of the Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity with guest commentaries from representatives of business, trade unions, civil society organisations, and the UN system that reflect on the continuing...

Spotify and Misinformation: Are Streaming Platforms Carriers or Publishers?

Many people under 30 may not know who Neil Young is, and many people over 60 may not know what Spotify is. And yet, their recent conflict has a bearing on freedom of expression and corporate accountability.

Young decided to withdraw his entire...

Why Fighting Discrimination is at the Heart of the Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity

Throughout 2022, IHRB will be marking ten years of the Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity with guest commentaries from representatives of business, trade unions, civil society organisations, and the UN system that reflect on the continuing...

The Dhaka Principles at 10 - Reflecting on Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead in Ensuring Migration with Dignity

Throughout 2022, IHRB is marking ten years of the Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity with guest commentaries from representatives of business, trade unions, civil society organisations, and the UN system that reflect on the continuing...