The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), which were unanimously endorsed by the Human Rights Council in June 2011, are the global authoritative standards to prevent, mitigate and remediate business-related adverse human rights impacts. The UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (Working Group) has a mandate to promote the dissemination and implementation of the UNGPs. The Working Group is required to integrate a gender perspective throughout its work. It is widely documented that women and girls experience adverse impacts of business activities differently and often disproportionately. They also face additional barriers in seeking access to effective remedies. Moreover, because of intersecting and multiple forms of discrimination, different women and girls may be affected differently by business activities in view of their age, colour, caste, class, ethnicity, religion, language, literacy, access to economic resources, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, residence in a rural location, and migration, indigenous or minority status. It is, therefore, critical that measures taken by States and business enterprises to implement the UNGPs are gender responsive. Against this backdrop, the Working Group in 2017 launched a „gender lens to the UNGPs”. This project aims to raise sensitivity among all stakeholders about the need to adopt a gender perspective in implementing the UNGPs and to develop practical guidance for both States and business enterprises. Building on existing standards and drawing insights from regional consultations and submissions, the Working Group’s June 2019 report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/41/43) provides guidance to States and businesses on integrating a gender perspective in implementing the UNGPs. The June 2019 report achieves three results. First, it provides a brief overview of discrimination and differentiated impacts experienced by women and girls in the context of business activities, and analyses selected existing gender equality standards. Second, it develops a three-step gender framework – i.e., gender responsive assessment, gender transformative measures, and gender transformative remedies – that States, business enterprises and other stakeholders could use to achieve substantive gender equality. Third, the report uses this gender framework to provide specific guidance (including illustrative actions) for each of the 31 principles of the UNGPs. To fulfil its mandate to promote the effective dissemination and implementation of the UNGPs, the Working Group has been collaborating with various organizations. One concrete example of this collaboration is our partnership in Asia with UNDP’s Business and Human Rights team led by Mr Livio Sarandrea. We have worked together to organize various events, advise government officials in developing national action plans on business and human rights, and offer capacity-building workshops for civil society organizations. The publication of this booklet, with UNDP’s financial assistance, is an extension of this collaborative partnership to assist both States and business enterprises in integrating a gender perspective when implementing the UNGPs. This booklet produces the Working Group’s gender report in a user-friendly manner. It also includes the text of each principle of the UNGPs alongside the gender guidance and illustrative actions. This booklet is part of the collective efforts of the Working Group and UNDP to widely disseminate the gender guidance for the UNGPs. We hope that this will help in a better integration of a gender perspective in the business and human rights field by all relevant stakeholders.

Gender Dimensions of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

Resource Key: GNIGQS9M

Document Type: Report

Creator:

Author:

  • UNDP

Creators Name: {mb_resource_zotero_creatorsname}

Place:

Institution: United Nations Development Programme & United Nations Working Group on Business and Human RIghts

Date: November 2019

Language:

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), which were unanimously endorsed by the Human Rights Council in June 2011, are the global authoritative standards to prevent, mitigate and remediate business-related adverse human rights impacts. The UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (Working Group) has a mandate to promote the dissemination and implementation of the UNGPs. The Working Group is required to integrate a gender perspective throughout its work. It is widely documented that women and girls experience adverse impacts of business activities differently and often disproportionately. They also face additional barriers in seeking access to effective remedies. Moreover, because of intersecting and multiple forms of discrimination, different women and girls may be affected differently by business activities in view of their age, colour, caste, class, ethnicity, religion, language, literacy, access to economic resources, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, residence in a rural location, and migration, indigenous or minority status. It is, therefore, critical that measures taken by States and business enterprises to implement the UNGPs are gender responsive. Against this backdrop, the Working Group in 2017 launched a „gender lens to the UNGPs”. This project aims to raise sensitivity among all stakeholders about the need to adopt a gender perspective in implementing the UNGPs and to develop practical guidance for both States and business enterprises. Building on existing standards and drawing insights from regional consultations and submissions, the Working Group’s June 2019 report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/41/43) provides guidance to States and businesses on integrating a gender perspective in implementing the UNGPs. The June 2019 report achieves three results. First, it provides a brief overview of discrimination and differentiated impacts experienced by women and girls in the context of business activities, and analyses selected existing gender equality standards. Second, it develops a three-step gender framework – i.e., gender responsive assessment, gender transformative measures, and gender transformative remedies – that States, business enterprises and other stakeholders could use to achieve substantive gender equality. Third, the report uses this gender framework to provide specific guidance (including illustrative actions) for each of the 31 principles of the UNGPs. To fulfil its mandate to promote the effective dissemination and implementation of the UNGPs, the Working Group has been collaborating with various organizations. One concrete example of this collaboration is our partnership in Asia with UNDP’s Business and Human Rights team led by Mr Livio Sarandrea. We have worked together to organize various events, advise government officials in developing national action plans on business and human rights, and offer capacity-building workshops for civil society organizations. The publication of this booklet, with UNDP’s financial assistance, is an extension of this collaborative partnership to assist both States and business enterprises in integrating a gender perspective when implementing the UNGPs. This booklet produces the Working Group’s gender report in a user-friendly manner. It also includes the text of each principle of the UNGPs alongside the gender guidance and illustrative actions. This booklet is part of the collective efforts of the Working Group and UNDP to widely disseminate the gender guidance for the UNGPs. We hope that this will help in a better integration of a gender perspective in the business and human rights field by all relevant stakeholders.

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