The PRI at the United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights

What is the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights?

The UNBHR is one of the flagship UN-convened events on human rights and is centred on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The 13th UNBHR’s focus was the “smart mix of measures” (national, international, voluntary and mandatory) and discussed key trends, offering an opportunity to reflect on what has worked and not worked, and exploring what this means for the future. 

PRI’s work on human rights and social issues is rooted in the UNGPs, which were formally and unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011. Our paper: Why and how investors should act on human rights articulates the responsibilities of institutional investors to respect the human rights of all, as defined by the UNGPs. The UNBHR is a pivotal event, offering the PRI a valuable platform to engage our signatories and key stakeholders, facilitate discussions on advancing the implementation of the UNGPs and strengthen investor action on human rights. 

What were the PRI’s objectives at the 13th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights?

The PRI called on responsible investors to scale up their action on human rights to manage associated risks and impacts and fulfil their fiduciary duties.  

To achieve the “smart mix of measures”, investors must implement mandatory human rights due diligence across all investments and enable access to remedy more extensively. In addition to this, investors can engage with policy makers to nurture an environment that enables rights-respecting investment.  

The PRI highlighted that human rights and social issues are becoming increasingly important to investors, with over 1000 signatories already adopting the UNGPs and / or the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (OECD Guidelines) in line with their responsibility to respect human rights. However, increased adoption of these frameworks must be complemented by more comprehensive implementation, as only a minority of PRI signatories indicate they provide access to remedy.   

To build on this momentum, the PRI aimed to achieve three key objectives at the UNBHR: 

1. Convene investors to promote the continued adoption and implementation of the UNGPs and OECD Guidelines in responsible investment.
2. Engage with stakeholders to reaffirm the materiality of human rights at both an entity and systemic level.
3. Facilitate policy discussions that strengthen the enabling environment for the integration of human rights into responsible investment. 

For insights into signatory progress on human rights, we encourage you to read our report analysing the 2023 reporting findings.  

The PRI delegation consisted of members from our Human Rights, Social and Governance, Advance, and Global Policy teams.  

Download an overview of PRI at the UN Forum on Business and Human RIghts