BUSINESS & HUMAN RIGHTS ACCELERATOR
The idea of human rights is as simple as it is powerful: That all people have a right to be treated with dignity.
Business is about people. Directly or indirectly, businesses often impact the human rights of their employees and contract workers, workers in their supply chains, the communities around their operations and the end users of their products or services. Businesses impact virtually the entire spectrum of internationally recognized human rights.
As a result, companies have both a responsibility and an opportunity to advance human rights across their operations, supply chains and beyond. Is your company able to know and show that it supports and respects the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights, and that it is not complicit in human rights abuses?
The Business & Human Rights Accelerator is a six-month programme activating companies participating in the UN Global Compact across industries and regions. The objective is to help businesses swiftly move from commitment to action on human rights and labour rights through establishing an ongoing human rights due diligence process.
Stage 1
Participants understand the Human Rights and Labour Principles of the UN Global Compact, UN Guiding Principles and the human rights due diligence process and determine where they are on their human rights journey.
Stage 4
Participants start developing specific actions and related metrics.
Stage 2
Participants scope the company value chain and identify potential impacts.
Stage 5
Participants understand how to effectively engage affected stakeholders and communicate their impacts.
Stage 3
Participants prioritize salient human rights impacts and understand their involvement with those impacts.
Stage 6
Participants understand remedy and grievance mechanisms.
Gerardo Garcia Martinez
Corporate Sustainability & Social Impact Manager
"I found the material and discussions in the Business & Human Rights Accelerator program very useful. Since then, we've made significant progress at GF. We assessed our operations for human rights risks for the first time and expanded this year to include upstream and downstream activities, aligning with our double materiality assessment. We also launched a new Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) process based on international conventions and standards to meet emerging regulations and transparency requirements."
Programme schedule & costs
Registration: 12 September 2024 - 20 December 2024
Programme duration: February to July 2025
Effort: 50 hours (over the 6-month period)
Language: English
Costs: free of charge for participants of the UN Global Compact Network Switzerland & Liechtenstein
Eligibilty
In order to take part, companies are required to meet the following criteria:
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Be a participant of the UN Global Compact Network Switzerland & Liechtenstein or willing to join
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Willing to identify its human rights impacts and scope a core area of its value chain for further focus
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Committed to developing an Action Plan to help address the human rights risks identified and prioritized
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Able to appoint
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Two representatives to participate in Accelerator activities and peer-learning sessions (in order to ensure that at least one representative can attend the facilitated sessions)
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An executive-level representative to follow Accelerator developments, provide internal support and participate in high-level events
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What you will learn
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How to identify your responsibilities in respecting human rights and labour rights, expressed in the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
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How to establish an ongoing human rights due diligence process in line with international standards
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How to prepare organizations for evolving human rights due diligence legislation that is aligned with international standards
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How to report and communicate on your human rights due diligence outcomes, including through the Communication on Progress, the annual public disclosure requirement for all UN Global Compact participants
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How to connect human rights and the human rights due diligence process with social sustainability initiatives
Information sessions: 30 October | morning & afternoon
The Business & Human Rights Accelerator will be realised in collaboration with Shift.
Contact person
Tabea Böglin
Programme Manager Social Sustainability, ESG Reporting and Regulations