IBA Business and Human Rights intro 2
Business clients are increasingly going to expect their lawyers to understand what human rights risks they might face and how they manage them. Business and human rights issues are not new, but may, in the past, have been framed differently (i.e. as health and safety or labour compliance issues).
In-house lawyers are usually the first port of call for advice relating to business practices and principles, including global soft law standards, such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). In-house lawyers also have an important role in managing the company’s strategic and reputational risks, including human rights risks. A significant knowledge gap has been identified in the legal profession regarding business and human rights.
Objectives of the Legal Policy and Research Unit (LPRU)’s Project:
- Increase lawyers’ ability to advise businesses to prevent and protect against any adverse impacts on human rights, both domestically and internationally;
- Educate lawyers on the possible negative impacts on human rights of businesses;
- Demonstrate thought leadership and provide educational and practical tools to allow businesses to respect human rights whilst maintaining the profitability of the Business; and
- Engage with external partners (including, international organisations, governments and civil society organisations) to develop and consolidate a global network through which it can achieve positive change.
Publications and recent initiatives
2024
Updated IBA Guidance on Business and Human Rights for Bar Associations
September 2024
In September 2024 at the IBA Annual Conference in Mexico City, the IBA Council voted unanimously to adopt the Second Edition of the IBA Business and Human Rights Guidance for Bar Associations. This guidance updates the initial guidance issued for bar associations by the IBA in 2015, and complements the Updated IBA Guidance Note on Business and Human Rights: The role of lawyers in the changing landscape, issued in November 2023. Learn more and access a summary of the Guidance here.
2023
Updated IBA Guidance Note on Business and Human Rights: The role of lawyers in the changing landscape
November 2023
The IBA updated its Guidance on Business and Human Rights for Lawyers in November 2023. The updated guidance aims to help lawyers understand and implement evolving regulations and standards regarding human rights and environmental due diligence. Learn more and access a summary of the Updated Guidance Note here.
2022
Response to the call for input for OHCHR report on the application of the UNGPs in the tech sector
February 2022
On 28 February, the IBA Working Group on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights submitted its response to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) report on the practical application of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in the tech sector.
Click to see earlier publications
2021
2020
Digital contact tracing for the Covid-19 epidemic: a business and human rights perspective
June 2020
Covid-19: a business and human rights perspective on digital contact tracing
25 June 2020
Covid-19, a ‘new normal’ and modern slavery
12 June 2020
Using arbitration to drive investor accountability for business-related human rights harms
16 April 2020
Guidance Documents
The LPRU’s work on Business and Human Rights includes developing guidance documents and training tools to bridge the knowledge gap and build the capacity of lawyers to advise business in this field.
Guidance for Lawyers
In 2016 the IBA issued a Practical Guide for Business Lawyers on Business and Human Rights to assess the implications of the UNGPs and related standards for the legal profession. It noted the widespread uptake of the UNGPs, their growing importance to States, businesses and civil society, and their incorporation into law. It discussed the impact of the UNGPs on legal practice. It was accompanied by a Reference Annex that discussed these issues in further detail, and consisted of:
- an in-depth review of the UNGPs;
- the Interpretive Guide on the Responsibility to Respect prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights; and
- the extensive literature, ongoing practices and policies of governments, multi-stakeholder institutions, bar associations and companies.
In 2023, in recognition of significant developments in hard law and public policy that have advanced uptake of the UNGPs since release of its initial guidance, the IBA published an ‘Updated IBA Guidance Note on Business and Human Rights: The role of lawyers in the changing landscape’, to help lawyers across the world and from all practice areas to understand the increasing relevance of business human rights to legal practice.
The Updated Guidance Note is available in multiple languages, including Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Hindi, Portuguese and Spanish. Learn more and access a summary of the Updated Guidance Note below.
Guidance for Bar Associations
In September 2024, the IBA Council voted unanimously to adopt the Second Edition of the IBA Business and Human Rights Guidance for Bar Associations. The Updated Bar Guidance complements the ‘Updated IBA Guidance Note on Business and Human Rights: The role of lawyers in the changing landscape’, issued in November 2023.
This guidance updates the initial guidance issued for bar associations by the IBA in 2015. It reflects the increasing integration of the 2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) into hard and soft law around the world, including in the form of human rights and environmental due diligence regulations and the integration of business human rights considerations in judicial and non-judicial decisions: bar associations can play a critical role in assisting lawyers and law firms to address the challenges and opportunities posed by these developments.
Training Tools
Handbook
The Handbook is a unique self-learning tool comprised of a collection of educational resources, practical exercises and multimedia to enable lawyers to develop their ability to identify and manage human rights risks.
Training programme for lawyers on business and human rights
The Training Programme is a course for bar associations, law firms and other legal institutions. Online material combined with a bespoke face-to-face training session will provide legal practitioners with the necessary knowledge to incorporate human rights management into their client-facing work and within their own businesses.
The IBA LPRU would like to thank the following experts in the area of B&HR, who have provided advice to the consultant and to IBA LPRU on the development of the Training Tools: Elodie Aba, Nicole Bigby, Christine Chow, Daniel D’Ambrosio, Dr Mihir Kanade, Sternford Moyo, Andrea Saldarriaga, Abigail McGregor, Paul Redmond and Vanessa Zimmerman.
Training initiatives and programmes
IBA training initiative for Italian lawyers in business and human rights
These roundtable sessions were hosted in Italian and followed a training session for Italian lawyers.
Training Programmes on Business and Human Rights
In October 2019, the LPRU, in partnership with the National Business Association of Colombia (ANDI) and the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá hosted a second training programme for lawyers on Business and Human Rights, followed by a roundtable discussion.
The LPRU, in collaboration with The Law Council of Australia, conducted a training programme for lawyers. Two sessions were held in Melbourne and Sydney in May 2018. Please see below some videos of the attendees, providing feedback on the training programme.
The IBA would like to thank The Law Council of Australia (LCA) for its partnership in developing and implementing this training programme.
Get involved
If you are interested in knowing more about the LPRU’s projects on Business and Human Rights, please contact LPRU@int-bar.org or Sara Carnegie, LPRU Director, at Sara.Carnegie@int-bar.org.
The development of the guidance documents would not have been possible without the work and dedication of Rocío Paniagua, former LPRU Senior Legal Advisor and Gonzalo Guzmán and Jane Ellis, former LPRU Directors.