UN Global Compact Network Russia participated in a joint meeting of the RUIE Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development and the RUIE Committee on Labour and Social Partnership, inviting the Programme Officer of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The agenda of the meeting included information on the project "Building a Community of Expertise on Business and Human Rights in the Russian Federation", which the UN Global Compact Network is implementing together with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the participation of the OHCHR Programme Officer in Moscow, with the support of the Russian MFA and assistance of the RUIE.
The project was initiated in 2021, a key period in the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in the year of their 10th anniversary (adopted in 2011). The United Nations took stock of the progress made ("Review of the First Decade of Implementation of the Principles by States and Business"). At the same time, a roadmap "Guiding Principles 10+. Business and Human Rights for the Next 10 Years" (UNGPs10+), which was presented on 29 November 2021 at the 10th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights. Importantly, at the same time in 2021, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSRD). This Directive, once adopted, will apply to Russian companies involved in international supply chains.
Thus, the project we are implementing provides, in effect, an opportunity to move closer to a national roadmap for integrating the Guiding Principles through the development of public-private partnerships and strengthening the institutional framework in this area in the Russian Federation's implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda.
New challenges faced by business actors - transformation of the macroeconomy and international agenda, environmental and climate issues, cyber security issues, realisation of indigenous peoples' rights, redistribution of labour resources, employment and social guarantees, gender equality issues and others that need to be addressed in corporate strategies and risk management systems - fall under the theme of Business and Human Rights.
In the current situation of international and economic turbulence, the Project acquires even greater potential in the interests of the national Russian economy and the preservation of the supply chains of Russian companies.