Human rights at heart of development agenda

Governments and businesses must place human rights at heart of development agenda, UN experts stress

GENEVA / NEW YORK (15 September 2017) – Efforts to engage the private sector with the UN’s global development goals must be aligned with human rights, a group of UN experts has stressed ahead of a major forum on the issue.

Their comments come as global business leaders and governments prepare to convene at next week’s UN Private Sector Forum in New York to discuss action and financing of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The goals, agreed by world leaders as part of the UN’s 2030 agenda for sustainable development, envisage partnerships between the private sector and governments as part of efforts to solve the world’s development challenges.

“The most powerful way for businesses to contribute to sustainable development is to embed respect for human rights into all their operations and value chains,” said Anita Ramasastry, one of the five members of the UN Working Group on business and human rights, who is participating in the Private Sector Forum on 18 September.

“Governments, for their part, need to meet their own obligations to protect human rights and give businesses incentives to respect the rights of people affected by their activities.”

The UN experts highlighted 10 key recommendations on how Governments and businesses should embed human rights in partnerships to achieve the SDGs.

The recommendations spell out how the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provide a clear roadmap to include respect for human rights in SDG actions.

“The UN’s 2030 Agenda references the Guiding Principles and underlines that SDG actions must adhere to international standards. What is needed now, is for Governments, businesses and civil society to work together to put these Principles into practice,” Ms. Ramasastry added.

The role of business in sustainable development will be on the agenda of the annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, which takes place in Geneva from 27-29 November.

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