On November 26, Peace Brigades International tweeted, “Don’t miss our event this afternoon at the #UNForumBHR at 3 pm, where the 2019 Human Rights & Business Award for outstanding work addressing the #HumanRights impacts of business will be awarded!”

The PBI tweet includes a web-link to Prevention is better than cure: exploring best strategies by States to prevent attacks on human rights defenders.

That web-page notes, “This 3-hour session will explore states’ strategies to prevent attacks on and protect human rights defenders and their rights, in cases where defenders are being targeted for their work to address impacts of business activities.”

“It will involve the perspective of defenders and affected rights holders and focus on the role that civil society, intergovernmental bodies, and businesses can play to strengthen and supplement state-based mechanisms.”

Along with PBI, the session was organized by groups including Global Witness, Front Line Defenders and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre in collaboration with the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

To watch this session on UN Web TV, please click on Part 1 (that features a 5-minute opening statement by Michel Forst, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders) and Part II.

This session took place during the Eighth Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights (Geneva, 25-27 Nov 2019).

The UN has noted, “The Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (also referred to as the Working Group on Business and Human Rights) was established by the Human Rights Council in 2011.”

The resolution that formed this Working Group emphasized that “transnational corporations and other business enterprises have a responsibility to respect human rights.”

At the same time that the Working Group was established, the UN also adopted a set of Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

This year’s annual forum focused “on the need for all governments to demonstrate progress, commitments, and plans in implementing the State duty to protect and strengthening accountability.”

Further reading: PBI engaged in UN processes on human rights and transnational corporations