Business and Human Rights Forum for Legal Practitioners - 3rd Edition
Business and Human Rights Forum for Legal Practitioners - 3rd Edition
Forum organised by the UIA in collaboration with the International Human Rights Committee of the American Bar Association’s International Law Section, with the support of the IE Law School, Madrid
The UIA Business and Human Rights Forum is an intensive Summer School Course, now in its 3rd edition, which offers a unique opportunity for an in-depth analysis and update on this area of the law. Human rights is attracting growing attention by legal practitioners, who are becoming increasingly aware of their critical roles and responsibilities to play in providing responsible advice and assistance to their corporate clients as well as representing clients in the related litigation.
Panellists are top experts in the field, including officers of international organisations, academics, judges as well as specialist legal practitioners. The programme covers the evolution and key developments of BHR at the international level (the UNGPs 3 pillars, the SDGs, the Global Compact …), and an overview of the legislative and regulatory requirements in key countries in Europe, Japan, the USA and China, with an update of the developments within the European Union - the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive); the Taxonomy Regulation; the SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation ); and the latest developments on the EU Commission Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive proposal.
All these initiatives reflect a shift from soft law to hard law hence transforming the responsibility to respect human rights derived from international standards into a legal duty.
A specific session will be dedicated to the HRDD (Human Rights Due Diligence) process, with a practical guidance for lawyers on how HRDD is an instrument to prevent and mitigate potential or actual adverse impacts on human rights and the environment, enhancing good governance throughout the value chain. Specific sessions will deal with issues and developments in the areas of Environmental Law, Employment Law, Banking and Financial Services, and international commercial contracts
The final day of the Forum will address the risks of litigating human rights issues before international courts (the European Court of Human Rights, the Interamerican Court of Human Rights, the African Court of Human Rights…) as well as civil litigation (to include arbitration according to the Hague rules on BHR ), criminal proceedings and regulatory proceedings.
Why is this Course useful?
Lawyers should be aware of the core concepts and principles concerning human rights, how they relate to businesses’ operations and how they may play a vital role in helping businesses avoid involvement in human rights violations. Law firms and in-house counsels are increasingly finding that their business clients seek and require legal advice on the human rights aspects of their transactions and activities to identify, prevent and mitigate risks, comply with international and national regulations, and promote their visibility as ethical businesses.
The Course provides lawyers with an in‐depth understanding of the latest issues at the nexus of law and sustainable development; an appreciation of the human rights impacts resulting from business activities at the international, regional, and national levels; guidance on how to carry out a corporate human rights due diligence process; tackling the link between human rights and specific legal areas; and an understanding of the risks of human rights related litigation.
Upon completion of the Course, the participants should be able to: demonstrate a thorough knowledge of human rights standards and the applicability of the standards to the challenges companies face; understand the need for corporate due diligence; identify risk management processes and approaches for undertaking due diligence; and develop due diligence assessment methods and tools companies can use to further their respect for human rights.
Who should attend?
Business and human rights practitioners, business lawyers, litigation lawyers, development lawyers, in‐house counsel, academics, representatives from NGOs and governmental organizations.
