Training Sessions & Materials
A key objective of the Human Rights in Business project is to train stakeholders (judges, litigators, civil society organizations, policy-makers, business representatives and affected individuals), raise consciousness and bring visibility to access to justice solutions for victims of corporate related human rights abuses. Since project implementation began in September 2014, we have organized a series of training sessions, conferences and seminars. Information, training podcasts and videos, as well as other training materials can be found below.
Human Rights in Business Final Conference
Brussels, Belgium
8 September 2016
The main objectives of the Final Conference were to disseminate the final research results of the Human Rights in Business research consortium, which focuses on the removal of barriers to access to remedy for victims of corporate related human rights abuses, to develop a relevant debate with experts and business representatives, and to bring visibility to the issues. The event was streamed live from the project homepage with Twitter participation from online participants. The Executive Summary of the report and the Handbook for civil society organizations and human rights defenders were distributed to participants.
Welcome. Opening Remarks
Marta Marin Sanchez, Basque Country Delegate to the EU
Katerina Yiannibas, Project Manager Human Rights in Business, Globernance Institute for Democratic Governance
Keynote Speaker
Geert Van Calster, Professor of European and International Law, University of Leuven
Human Rights in Business Final Research Results and Recommendations
Daniel Augenstein, Tilburg University
Liesbeth Enneking, Utrecht University
Cees van Dam, Professor Cees Van Dam Consultancy Ltd.
Julia Planitzer, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute
Jordi Jaria i Manzano, Rovira I Virgili University
María Álvarez Torné, University of Barcelona
Panel I: Corporate duty of care and Human Rights due diligence
Moderator: Paige Morrow, Frank Bold Society
Peter Buijze, Global Work Place Rights team, The Coca-Cola Company
Alice Pedretti, Project Manager Business and Human Rights, CSR Europe
Ben Vanpeperstraete, Supply Chain Coordinator at UNI Global Union
Franceso Agnello, Advisor, European Parliament
Panel II: Removal of barriers to access to remedy. The way forward…
Moderator: Nicola Jägers, Tilburg University
Carlos López, Senior Legal Adviser, Business and Human Rights, International Commission of Jurists
Jonas Grimheden, Senior Policy Manager, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
Lucas Roorda, Researcher, Utrecht Centre for Accountability and Liability Law
Concluding remarks
Heidi Hautala, Member of the European Parliament, Chair EuroNest Parliamentary Assembly
Human Rights in Business Training Session IV
Amsterdam, Netherlands
11 May 2016
To advance the implementation of the Business and Human Rights agenda of the European Union and its member states, European civil society and the Kingdom of the Netherlands jointly organised a pan-European, multi-stakeholder conference during the Dutch presidency of the EU in spring 2016.
The European Union has the potential to be an international game-changer when it comes to business and human rights. The landmark UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) were adopted five years ago and provide the EU with important tools to achieve business respect for human rights. Despite the overall commitment to the UNGPs by the EU member states, there is still much to do to improve their implementation. The Dutch presidency promotes a two-pronged approach, which is to implement the UNGPs at EU level as well as national level. This entails that the EU and all Member States should develop coherent action plans on business and human rights, including legal and policy reforms
To advance the implementation of the Business and Human Rights agenda of the European Union and its member states, European civil society and the Kingdom of the Netherlands jointly organised a pan-European, multi-stakeholder conference during the Dutch presidency of the EU in spring 2016.
The European Union has the potential to be an international game-changer when it comes to business and human rights. The landmark UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) were adopted five years ago and provide the EU with important tools to achieve business respect for human rights. Despite the overall commitment to the UNGPs by the EU member states, there is still much to do to improve their implementation. The Dutch presidency promotes a two-pronged approach, which is to implement the UNGPs at EU level as well as national level. This entails that the EU and all Member States should develop coherent action plans on business and human rights, including legal and policy reforms
Decision makers, politicians, business leaders, NGOs, trade unions, and researchers came together to discuss how to further advance this agenda together on 11 May 2016 in Amsterdam.
Background
The Dutch presidency of the EU in the spring of 2016 coincided with the 5th anniversary of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The Netherlands was one of the first states to publish a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, and is a strong supporter of the UNGPs. This created an opportunity to reopen the debate on human rights and business in the EU by organising a follow up to the 2012 Conference hosted by the Danish Presidency of the EU.
Organization of the Conference
The Human Rights in Business Project and Frank Bold co-organised the conference together with the MVO platform the Netherlands (main organizer), the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the European Coalition for Corporate Justice, the European Network of National Human Rights Institutes (ENNHRI), CNV Internationaal, the Danish Institute for Human Rights, and SOMO.
The Conference
Over 350 people pre-registered for the conference, showing the great interest in the issue. The organizers managed to extend the maximum number of seats for the conference, allowing around 240 people to participate (including the organizers). There was interest of all stakeholder groups, and thus all groups were well represented. Approximately 20% of the participants were academics and representatives of the National Human Rights Institutions, 25% were business, investor and law firm representatives, 25% were member states and EU representatives and 30% were civil society, including trade unions, representatives. The participants came from 21 different EU member states, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, Japan, Macedonia, Mexico, Mongolia, Norway, Switzerland and the US. Of public officials and policy-makers, 48 representatives of 17 member states and Switzerland and 12 EU officials participated in the conference.
Three plenary sessions were organized: an opening session on the need for an EU Business and Human Rights Roadmap, a plenary session on human rights due diligence and the role of states, and concluding a closing session to harvest recommendations and conclusions of the day.
The following parallel sessions were organized:
- Business and Human Rights within Europe
- National Action Plans: Evaluating progress and charting next steps in Europe
- Corporate Governance and Capital Markets Policies
- Responsible Business Conduct in (post-)Conflict Areas; what is the Role of EU Member States?
- Human Rights Reporting for Companies
- Access to Remedy: Effectiveness of non-judicial grievance mechanisms
- Complementarity between the UNGPs and the UN Binding Instrument?
- Human Rights Due Diligence in the Supply Chain
- Public Procurement: Eliminating Human Rights abuses from Government Supply Chains
- A Perfect Storm: Implementing the UNGPs in the Context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
- Access to Judicial Remedies
- Policy Coherence for Business and Human Rights: Trade & Sustainability in FTAs
In each of the sessions different stakeholder groups were represented. The victims’ perspective was either represented by a member of an affected community or a NGO involved in the negative human rights impact.
The plenary session on human rights due diligence and the role of states and parallel sessions on Access to Judicial Remedies, Effectiveness of Non-Judicial Grievance Mechanisms were co-organised by Frank Bold and the Human Rights in Business Project, forming together the final training session of this Project. The Project also contributed to the parallel session on Business and Human Rights within Europe. The full list of speakers in the sessions organized or co-organised by the Human Rights in Business Project include:
- Access to Judicial Remedies (Background information available here.)
Lene Wendland (Senior Advisor and Manager, Business & Human Rights, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights);
Gabriela Quijano (Business and Human Rights Legal Adviser, Amnesty International International Secretariat);
Christopher Schuller (Policy Adviser, German Institute for Human Rights);
Ingrid Gubbay (Lawyer, Hausfeld);
Channa Samkalden (Lawyer, Prakken d’Oliveira).
- Access to Remedy: Effectiveness of non-judicial grievance mechanisms (Background information available here.)
Mariette van Huijstee (Senior Researcher, SOMO)
Roel Nieuwenkamp (Chair, OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct);
Roberto Rando (Complaints Officer at Accountability Mechanism of the European Investment Bank);
Alice Pedretti (Business and Human Rights Manager, CSR Europe);
Sukhgerel Dugersuren (Executive Director, Oyu Tolgoi Watch).
- Human Rights Due Diligence: The Role of States (Background information available here.)
Mark Taylor (Research Director, Fafo);
Cees van Dam (Human Rights in Business Project, Professor of Tort Law, Maastricht University, Professor of International Business and Human Rights, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Visiting Professor, King’s College London);
Dominique Potier (Deputy of the 5th constituency of Meurthe-et-Moselle in the National Assembly, France);
Femke Den Hartog (Policy Advisor International and Economic affairs at InRetail);
Gerard Oonk (Director, India Committee of the Netherlands/ Stop Child Labour)
Richard Howitt (European Parliament Rapporteur on Corporate Social Responsibility)
The videos of plenary sessions, the conference report and list of participants, and sessions reports will be available at: http://eu-roadmap.nl/reports-of-the-conference/.
Human Rights in Business Training Session III
Vienna, Austria
16 December 2015
In December 2015, the Human Rights in Business held a training session in Vienna, Austria to inform all interested stakeholders about current legal possibilities and challenges relating to judicial and non-judicial remedies within the EU, through which companies domiciled in a Member State can be held liable for alleged human rights abuses for which they or their subcontractors may be responsible, regardless of where the damage might have occurred.
Two panels of speakers including NGO, union and company representatives, lawyers and scholars provided a forum for discussion on the following topics:
- Bringing cases before European Courts: challenges for victims’ representatives and national jurisdictions (and how to overcome these challenges)
- Company-based grievance mechanisms – a promising non-judicial remedy? Advantages and disadvantages and relation to other judicial and non-judicial remedies
At the end of the Training Session, researchers from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights will present the findings of their project “Non-judicial Complaints: A Balance between Business and Human Rights Interests?”
Materials: A glossary of key terms and training session preparatory materials are available below for download so as to prepare the participants for the training session.
Linguistic Preparation. Glossary of Relevant terms
ECCHR Holding Companies Accountable (ENG)
ECCHR Holding Companies Accountable (GER)
Tilburg, The Netherlands
Faculty Club, Tilburg Law School, Tilburg University
June 23, 2015
9:00 – 16:00
ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN THE EU FOR VICTIMS OF CORPORATE RELATED HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE
In June 2015, the Human Rights in Business held a training session in Tilburg, Netherlands to discuss the challenges for victims seeking redress in the EU for corporate human rights abuse in third countries.
Two panels of speakers including litigators, policymakers and scholars shared their views. Speakers invited included, inter alia: from the United Kingdom Richard Meeran (Leigh Day & Co), from the Netherlands Channa Samkalden (Prakkendoliviera), from Germany Remo Klinger Geulen & Klinger Rechtsanwälte Geulen and, from Italy Luca Saltalamacchia (Studio Legale Saltalamacchia). Policymakers from the Netherlands, Spain and the European Commission were also invited to join the discussion.
Materials: Preparatory materials are available for download so as to prepare the participants for the training session. For linguistic preparation, a glossary of key terms is available in English. Participants are also asked to review the Netherlands National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.
Linguistic Preparation. Glossary of Relevant terms
Netherlands National Action Plan
Netherlands Institute of Human Rights National Action Plan Response
Jägers et al. (2014) The future of corporate liability for extraterritorial human rights abuses
Final Judgement District Court of the Hague (2013) Shell oil spill
Speaker presentations: The following materials were used by the speakers in their presentations as part of the Training Session on 23 June 2015 at Tilburg University.
Richard Meeran: Access to Justice in the EU for Victims of Corporate Related Human Rights Abuse
Remo Klinger: Access to Justice in Germany for victims of corporate related human rights abuse
Louise Vytopil: CSR in supply chains & Impediments in Access to Justice
The Danish Institute for Human Rights: National Action Plans (NAPs) on Business and Human Rights
Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
San Telmo Museum
19-20 February 2015
9:00-17:00
In February 2015, the Human Rights in Business project held a training session in Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain to connect knowledge creators with knowledge users and to facilitate an interchange of knowledge and ideas. Judges, lawyers, academic experts, NGO representatives and business representatives discussed and analyzed the challenges that occur with the implementation and promotion of effective human rights remedies in relation to international business practices in the European Union.
Translation was provided between English, Basque and Spanish.
Topics included:
- Case study analysis of human rights abuses by multinational companies inside and outside the EU
- Corporate obligations and standards of care
- Non-judicial remedies: international arbitration and corporate grievance mechanisms
- Role of civil society in the promotion of Human Rights in business
Panels over the course of two days consisted of representatives from various sectors: business, academia, civil society and law:
- Antonio Vitorino, Ex European Commissioner for Justice
- Hon. Francisco Borja Iriarte, Judge, Civil Court and Criminal Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country
- Pablo Paisán, Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira
- Prof. Xabier Ezeizabarrena, University of the Basque Country, University of Deusto
- Jesús de la Fuente, CEO Graphenea
- Hon. Fausto Pocar, Judge, Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
- Prof. Liesbeth Enneking, University of Utrecht
- Andoitz Korta, Gerente, Korta
- Carlos Cordero, Founder and Managing Partner of Social Innovation Sustentia
- Prof. Daniel Augenstein, University of Tilburg
- María López Apodaca, Human Resources, Gureak
- Prof. Alberto Muñoz, University of Navarra
- Mikel Mancisidor, UN Independent Expert, Member of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)
- Filip Gregor, Frank Bold Society
- Iñigo Ugarte, Director, IETeam
- Prof. Katerina Yiannibas, University of Deusto
- Prof. Catherine Kessedjian, International Arbitrator and Mediator, University of Panthéon-Assas, Paris II
- Brooks W. Daly, Deputy Secretary General Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague (PCA)
- María Herrero, Director, Herrekor
- Katharina Häusler, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute
- Tricia Feeney, Director, Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID)
- Marilyn Croser, Director of the CORE Coalition
Materials:
The program and materials are available for download so as to prepare the participants for the training session. For linguistic preparation, a glossary of key terms is available in English and in Spanish. In preparation for the first day of the training session, February 19, a one page case summary of the facts and issues is provided for each of the six case studies that will form the base of the panel discussions. In preparation for the second day of the training session, February 20, participants are asked to review the Draft Spanish National Action Plan (2014) (only available in Spanish).
Preparación lingüística. Glosario ESP
Linguistic Preparation. Glossary of Terms ENG
February 19 Preparatory Materials. Case Studies
February 20 Preparatory Materials. Spanish National Action Plan (ESP)
Speaker presentations: The following materials were used by the speakers in their presentations as part of the Training Session on 19-20 February 2015 at the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastian, Spain.
Carlos Cordero: Human Rights in Business Perspective and Challenges
Brooks W. Daly: Arbitration of Business and Human Rights Disputes
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