2019 UN Forum on Business and Human Rights

Interpretation provided in English, French and Spanish

Session organized by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights

Background

Women and girls experience adverse impacts of business activities differently and disproportionately. They may also face additional barriers in seeking access to effective remedies. Moreover, because of intersecting and multiple forms of discrimination, different women and girls may be affected differently by business activities in view of their age, colour, caste, class, ethnicity, religion, language, literacy, access to economic resources, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, residence in a rural location, and migration, indigenous or minority status. Therefore, measures taken by states and businesses to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in the form of laws, regulations, policies, plans, practices and decisions must be responsive to gender-differentiated impacts of business activities.
In line with its explicit mandate to integrate a gender perspective throughout its work (A/HRC/RES/17/4), the Working Group in 2017 launched a ‘gender lens to the UNGPs’ project. Building on exiting standards and drawing insights from regional consultations as well as received submissions, the Working Group in its June 2019 report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/41/43) provided guidance to states and businesses on integrating a gender perspective in implementing the UNGPs. In this report, the Working Group proposes a three-step gender framework (i.e., gender-responsive assessment, gender-transformative measures and gender-transformative remedies) and uses the framework to develop gender guidance specific to each of the 31 principles of the UNGPs.
This session seeks to invite diverse stakeholders to showcase, and brainstorm collectively, ways to implement the gender guidance for the UNGPs developed by the Working Group.

Objectives  

The session aims to:

1. showcase how states, UN agencies, businesses, trade unions and civil society organisations could implement the gender guidance to the UNGPs in concrete terms;
2. explore connection of the gender guidance to other regulatory initiatives at the corporate, national, regional or international level;
3. identify not only ways to disseminate and implement the gender guidance but also the need for any further development of standards; and
4. foster collaboration among different stakeholders to promote substantive gender equality in the business and human rights field.
    
   Format 
   The session will be organised like a ‘gender council’. It will begin with the moderator briefly introducing the gender framework and gender guidance for the UNGPs. This will be followed by selected delegates representing different stakeholders sharing concrete examples of how the gender guidance for the UNGPs could be (or have been) implemented. Each delegate will have max 3 mins to make one’s statement (like in the Human Rights Council). There will be time for moderated open discussion and comments from the floor.
   All delegates will be expected to submit beforehand a written copy of their statements for posting on the Working Group’s website.