Jeannette Gurung attended the Regional Workshop Partners in Rights organized by the Swedish Embassy on 27-28 May in Bangkok, Thailand. The workshop explored the development of meaningful partnerships and relations between businesses, civil society organizations (CSOs) and government, through highlighting the linkages between environmental sustainability, human rights and gender equality. An important point of departure for the workshop is the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (the UN Guiding Principles) as a framework for understanding various actors’ roles and responsibilities. During the Q&A session after the opening panel, Jeannette pointed out the need for UN Guiding Principles to align with the UN Global Compact. The UN Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. With over 12,000 corporate participants and other stakeholders from over 145 countries, it is the largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative in the world.
The opening session laid the foundation for the workshop by addressing topics like the state’s duty to protect human rights and businesses responsibility to do the same. Linkages were made between human rights, environment and the need to change structural gender discrimination as well as the necessity of being able to hold companies accountable for their actions. In the following sessions various examples were shared on how to implement a successful partnership between CSOs and private sector to protect the environment and still profit, as well as contribute to gender equality benefiting local community.
More info:http://www.swedenabroad.com/en-GB/Embassies/Bangkok/Current-affairs/News/