Opening of the IOE Centre on Human Rights and Responsible Business Conduct

Friends, colleagues,

Amidst global turmoil and the existential threat of climate change.

Amidst conflict, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and skyrocketing inequalities.

Amidst growing disinformation, breaches in trust, and political disenchantment.

We still have reasons to be encouraged.

There are glimmers of hope.

Because many – including in the business community - are aware that change is needed. We must come together to confront these complex and interconnected challenges. And we must treat human rights as problem-solving tools to forge a path for a better future.

The United Nations is counting on business to play their part.

Our Common Agenda sets out an ambitious pathway for more networked, inclusive and effective multilateralism – with a specific call for new business models to support the energy transition, sustainable finance, and the delivery of other global public goods.

The Call to Action on Human Rights also encouraged the United Nations to partner with business on climate, tech and sustainable development.

This raises the bar for the role of business in ensuring that actions to address our most pressing global challenges are anchored in human rights.

However, as we all know very well, it is one thing to set out expectations and principles.

It is another to meet and implement them.

More is needed to realize the potential of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in this second decade of their existence.

The initiative to create an IOE Center on human rights and responsible business conduct is therefore timely and welcome.

To empower employers’ associations to integrate human rights in their activities.

So that companies can, in turn, manage human rights risks, including along their value chain.

And reduce the negative impact of business operations on human rights.

I particularly welcome the Centre’s intended focus on micro, small and medium sized enterprises, which, in most countries, form the backbone of local economies.

Embedding international human rights standards and responsible business conduct into their operations can help achieve the scale and quality of change needed on the ground.

For this reason, they are a constituency my Office has sought to support.

I congratulate the International Organization of Employers on this important initiative and look forward to deepening our cooperation.