October 2023: Submission to UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights' report on "Investors, ESG and Human Rights"

In October 2023, the Investor Alliance for Human Rights responded to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights call for inputs seeking practical guidance on how the investment sector can better align ESG approaches with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights invited relevant stakeholders to respond to questions about the challenges and opportunities in aligning ESG approaches with international human rights standards and norms. The Investor Alliance submission focused on how institutional investors must center human rights in ESG approaches, the need for rigorous regulation grounded in international business and human rights frameworks that codifies investor and company HRDD and disclosure, and elaborated on the implementation of the responsibility to respect human rights in investment activities.

Inputs submitted by all stakeholders will inform the forthcoming report of the UN Working Group to be presented to the 56th session of the Human Rights Council in June 2024 and will contain recommendations targeted to States, financial actors, and other relevant stakeholders addressing the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities that financial regulations, policies, and practices offer to move towards a sustainable finance framework centered on a human rights-based approach laid out in the UNGPS. 

You can review the full submission here.  

For more information, please contact Anita Dorett at adorett@iccr.org.