Held in observance of International Women's Day, the 2016 WEPs Annual Event, Business Partners for Gender Equality: Multipliers for Development, brought together inspirational business leaders, including innovative female entrepreneurs, with civil society, the UN and Government, to scale-up business action and unleash the full potential of women and girls. Through high-level panels and interactive sessions, participants dove into how diverse companies around the world are implementing the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and helping to achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set forth in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Held in observance of International Women's Day, the 2016 WEPs Annual Event, Business Partners for Gender Equality: Multipliers for Development, brought together inspirational business leaders, including innovative female entrepreneurs, with civil society, the UN and Government, to scale-up business action and unleash the full potential of women and girls. Through high-level panels and interactive sessions, participants dove into how diverse companies around the world are implementing the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and helping to achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set forth in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Companies have an internationally recognized responsibility to respect human rights and to develop a suitable training program to ensure employees are equipped to reduce the risk of human rights harm. Nearly all companies have existing training on anti-bribery and anticorruption, however human rights training encompasses a broader employee group as well as a broader scope of responsibility, presenting a uniquely challenging training environment. This webinar, co-hosted by the UN Global Compact and BSR, presents practical guidance on developing human rights training relevant to all companies. It highlights good practices from emerging training programs and identifies challenges that can be avoided with proper planning. The webinar coincides with the release of the “Good Practice Note on Designing Effective Human Rights Training Aligned with the Corporate Responsibility to Respect in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,” prepared for the UN Global Compact Human Rights and Labour Working Group.

Explores the requirements of the UK Modern Slavery Act and its implications for UN Global Compact business participants who conduct business in the UK. It also offers good practice approaches that companies can take to address human rights risks.

The key elements of a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders, and a effective investment and operating environment for business, are closely intertwined. Human rights and environmental defenders, journalists, lawyers, and anti-corruption campaigners are key agents of change, and they contribute greatly to safeguard human rights and the rule of law. As such, both companies and human rights defenders have a shared interest in an environment which respects the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, and is characterised by non-discrimination, transparent and accountable government, freedom from corruption, and respect for the rule of law. Regrettably, the operating environment for defenders is becoming increasingly restrictive and dangerous in many countries. These countries include those in which corporations, with policies on human rights, increasingly operate and invest. Jointly hosted by the UN Global Compact, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), this webinar will provide an overview of the increasing restrictions faced by civil society and human rights defenders, explore some of the drivers and benefits of business action in their support and protection, and discuss emerging good practices related to business and human rights defenders.

Explores the business case for inclusive sourcing and opportunities such as the upcoming Women Vendors Exhibition and Forum that facilitates establishing business relationships between global supply chains and women entrepreneurs. The discussion links Principle 5 of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), which encourages companies to expand on their business connections with women-owned enterprises, to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with particular regard to SDG 5, which aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. The webinar addresses socially responsible sourcing practices. Business and supplier representatives present their experiences and programmes.

This summary table highlights the human rights dimension of each Sustainable Development Goal, by indicating the relevant international human rights instrument that applies.

Aims to offer companies a ‘must-read’ foundational guide on how to implement respect for human rights in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights. This guide goes beyond the theoretical explanation of the Guiding Principles and explores them in practice through the real-life experiences of companies and their stakeholders in diverse and complex situations. This publication is the product of a multi-year collaboration between companies, civil society and issue experts.

Urges Governments to implement the State Duty to protect human rights. It was drafted by the leading business associations involved in the business and human rights.

The issue of taxation is steadily rising on the corporate sustainability agenda. Taxes are one of the main sources of revenue for governments. They are crucial to enable governments to deliver key services to their constituents such as health, education, housing and infrastructure. While tax legislation and enforcement are government responsibilities, companies, as tax payers, also have an important role to play to meet their own human rights responsibilities and to comply with the law. Jointly hosted by the UN Global Compact and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, this webinar provided a briefing on the link between tax and human rights, the challenges associated and new resources that have been developed for governments, investors, businesses and NGOs on emerging best practices related to tax and human rights. The webinar featured presentations from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, NEI Investments/PRI Taskforce on Corporate Tax Responsibility, and ActionAid.

This guide presents a brief introduction to the relevance of traceability for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) which are looking to adopt traceability in their supply chains and also assists them to link their initiative to the newly launched Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It illustrates the opportunities, challenges and practical steps for implementing traceability programmes within SMEs and features case examples for driving SME traceability.

Provides an overview of the current state of sustainable supply chains globally through interviews of more than 100 supply chain, procurement and sustainability executives from 70 companies.