Andrés Zaragoza / Indigenous community in Valle Sagrado, Perú
In a statement at the Human Rights Council, ISHR welcomed the UN Working Group’s recently released Guidance document for using the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for engaging with, safeguarding and ensuring respect for the rights of Human Rights Defenders. Human rights defenders are at the forefront of protecting their communities, the environment and key natural resources that maintain the balance in our planet.
This new guidance is a landmark for the protection of human rights defenders, building on a premise that ISHR has promoted for years: business and human rights defenders operate in and benefit from a “shared civic space” defined by common, fundamental elements. Respect for the rule of law and freedom of expression, association, assembly and public participation are essential to the realisation of all human rights, to good governance and accountable institutions. But they are also critical elements to stable, profitable and sustainable business environments in which companies thrive and economies and people prosper.
Andrés Zaragoza, Programme Manager at ISHR added: “The standard of good and responsible business conduct in relation to human rights defenders is now clear. Global companies should take note and implement the recommendations of the United Nations if they want to continue claiming that they contribute to sustainable development”.
There is both a legal duty and a growing global expectation for businesses and investors to act responsibly and to respect human rights. This trend is reflected in the enactment of special due diligence legal provisions in many jurisdictions and by the growing consensus around what sustainable and responsible business means.
June marks the tenth anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which we should celebrate while recognising that most of the work is still to be done.
This statement can be found here.
At the June 2025 consultations on the Binding Treaty, civil society criticised the lack of hybrid participation, debated due diligence and strong defender protections, and urged inclusion of gender, environmental, and Indigenous rights.
The 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council (16 June to 9 July 2025) will consider issues including civil society space, climate change, sexual orientation and gender identity, violence and discrimination against women and girls, poverty, peaceful assembly and association, and freedom of expression, among others. It will also present an opportunity to address grave human rights situations including in Afghanistan, Belarus, China, Eritrea, Israel and oPt, Sudan, Syria and Venezuela, among many others. Here’s an overview of some of the key issues on the agenda.
During the 83rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), a high-level panel discussion was held on advancing justice for Africans and people of African descent through reparations.
