What are the UNGPs - UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights?

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ( known as the UNGPs) are the most authoritative international framework for how both States and companies can prevent and address adverse human rights impacts in business operations around the world.  

The UN Guiding Principles affirm that all businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights in their operations and across their business relationships, no matter their size, sector, or structure.

The UNGPs contribute  to raising standards and protecting people and communities affected by business activity, which consequently supports a fairer, more just and sustainable global economy.

In 2005, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Professor John Ruggie as Special Representative on business and human rights, following a Human Rights Commission resolution to  ‘identify and clarify’ human rights standards that apply to business.

Professor Ruggie then led a six-year process, consulting extensively with business, academia, governments, trade unions, civil society groups, and human rights defenders globally.

In 2011, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights were unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council, in resolution 17/4 of 16 June 2011.

The UNGPs consist of 31 principles organised around three pillars:

Pillar 1: The State Duty to Protect

Reaffirms States’ existing obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights and fundamental freedoms. Governments must protect people from human rights abuses by third parties, including businesses operating within their borders or under their jurisdiction. This means having effective laws, regulations, and enforcement mechanisms in place.

Pillar 2: The Corporate Responsibility to Respect

Clarifies the role of business enterprises as specialized organs of society performing specialized functions.Companies have a responsibility to prevent, address and remedy human rights abuses committed in their business operations. Crucially, this responsibility applies to all companies, everywhere, regardless of whether their home state has enacted specific laws requiring it. It extends not just to a company's own workforce but to its entire value chain — suppliers, contractors, and business partners. The key mechanism is human rights due diligence: an ongoing process of identifying, preventing, mitigating, and accounting for how a business affects human rights. 

Pillar 3: Access to Remedy

Both states and businesses must ensure that people whose rights have been harmed have access to effective remedies — whether judicial (courts) or non-judicial (complaints mechanisms, mediation, or company-level grievance processes)

Before the UN Guiding Principles, there was no shared standard on what responsible business conduct meant in terms of human rights. 

The UN Guiding Principles matter because they provide a common framework for how governments and companies should address, prevent and remedy human rights harms in business operations, which contributes to strengthening accountability, shaping policy and advancing responsible practices. 

They introduced the concept of human rights due diligence into mainstream corporate practice. They shifted the conversation from philanthropy and reputation management toward genuine risk identification and accountability.

Their influence has continued over the past fifteen years. For example, the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, adopted in 2024, now requires major companies to identify and address actual or potential human rights and environmental risks across their value chains — a legal obligation directly rooted in UNGP principles. Similar mandatory due diligence laws have been enacted in a growing number of countries.

Milestones and progress include:

National Action Plans (NAPs)

The adoption of National Action Plans on business and human rights, starting with the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark, and others in 2014. Research by the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) shows that there are currently 30 countries that have NAPs in place, and 16 countries that are in the process of developing one.

Sustainable Development Goals

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reinforce responsible business conduct and human rights as part of global sustainable development through goals 8 and 12. Both aim to make economic progress consistent with respect for human rights, equality, and environmental protection.

EU and regional momentum

The European Union and regional bodies have integrated the UNGPs into trade, investment, and due diligence discussions. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) which draws from the UNGPs and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct underscores the transition from voluntary corporate responsibility into an more of an enforceable corporate accountability measure.

Key national laws and legislatures across countries like France (Duty of Vigilance Law, 2017); Germany (Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, Lieferkettengesetz, 2021); the Nertherlands (Child Labour Due Diligence Law, 2019); and Norway (Transparency Act, 2022) are rooted in the UNGPs and represent a major step forward in taking the principles from an ethical expectation to a legal obligation where companies must act to respect humans rights, prevent and remedy abuses in their business.

Beyond Europe:

Organisations such as ASEAN and the African Union are developing frameworks inspired by the UNGPs to promote responsible business conduct. Countries like Japan have developed national guidance (Building on Japan's first National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP) and the 2022 Guidelines on Respecting Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains), and South Korea has reintroduced the mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (mHREDD) bill in its National Assembly.