Good Business:Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
This action plan is the UK’s national implementation plan for the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). It is intended to embody the Government’s commitment to protect human rights by helping UK companies understand and manage human rights. It contains Government expectations about business behaviour, both in the UK and overseas.
The UNGPs guide the approach UK companies should take to respect human rights wherever they operate. The key principles of this approach are to:
- comply with all applicable laws and respect internationally recognized human rights, wherever they operate;
- seek ways to honour the principles of internationally recognized human rights when faced with conflicting requirements;
- treat as a legal compliance issue the risk of causing or contributing to gross human rights abuses wherever they operate.
- adopt appropriate due diligence policies to identify, prevent and mitigate human rights risks, and commit to monitoring and evaluating implementation;
- consult people who may potentially be affected at all stages of project design and implementation, in a manner that ensures free and informed participation and takes into account language and other potential barriers to effective engagement, paying particular attention to indigenous peoples and other groups, including women and girls;
- emphasise the importance of behaviour in line with the UNGPs to their supply chains in the UK and overseas. Appropriate measures could include contractual arrangements, training, monitoring and capacity-building;
- adopt or participate in effective grievance mechanisms which are transparent, equitable and predictable, to enable the remediation of any adverse human rights impacts they cause or to which they contribute;
- be transparent about policies, activities and impacts, and report on human rights issues and risks as appropriate as part of their annual reports.
You can download the guidance at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bhr-action-plan