UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) are the authoritative global standard for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse human rights impacts linked to business activity, endorsed unanimously by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011.

Developed by Professor John Ruggie as UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, the UNGPs rest on three pillars: the state duty to protect human rights, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, and access to remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuses. The framework applies to all states and all business enterprises, regardless of size, sector, location, ownership, or structure.

The Three Pillars

Pillar I: The State Duty to Protect establishes that states must protect against human rights abuse within their territory and jurisdiction by third parties, including business enterprises. This requires taking appropriate steps to prevent, investigate, punish, and redress such abuse through effective policies, legislation, regulations, and adjudication.

Pillar II: The Corporate Responsibility to Respect requires that business enterprises respect human rights, meaning they should avoid infringing on the human rights of others and should address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved. This responsibility exists independently of states' abilities or willingness to fulfil their own human rights obligations and over and above compliance with national laws.

Pillar III: Access to Remedy requires that as part of their duty to protect, states must take appropriate steps to ensure that when business-related human rights abuses occur, those affected have access to effective remedy through judicial, administrative, legislative, or other appropriate means.

Human Rights Due Diligence

The UNGPs introduced the concept of human rights due diligence (HRDD) as the primary mechanism through which companies can identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for how they address their adverse human rights impacts. HRDD should cover adverse impacts that the enterprise may cause or contribute to through its own activities, or which may be directly linked to its operations, products, or services by its business relationships.

The HRDD process involves four ongoing steps: assessing actual and potential human rights impacts, integrating and acting upon the findings, tracking responses, and communicating how impacts are addressed. This process has been adopted as the basis for mandatory due diligence legislation in the EU (CSDDD), France (Duty of Vigilance Law), Germany (Supply Chain Act), and other jurisdictions.

Influence on ESG Frameworks

The UNGPs have profoundly influenced ESG reporting and regulation. GRI 411-414 directly reference UNGP concepts. ESRS S1-S4 are structured around UNGP due diligence expectations. The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises align their human rights chapter with the UNGPs. Many ESG ratings agencies assess companies' alignment with UNGP expectations as part of their social pillar scoring.

Further Reading

• OHCHR UNGPs — Official text
• UN Working Group on BHR — Implementation guidance

Related Topics

• Supply Chain Human Rights
• Modern Slavery & Forced Labor
• OECD MNE Guidelines