June of 2021 configures the tenth anniversary of the unanimous endorsement by the UN Human Rights Council of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), and this is a crucial moment and a milestone to evaluate the efforts done so far.

A decade after, there is a real expectation that businesses exercise Human Rights due diligence, as well as a normative trend morphing towards a legally binding standard of conduct. In parallel, the financial sector and the trade agreements have shown the new focus of investors on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, with a tendency for wider investor action to respect Human Rights. 

Also, it shall be considered that the new systemic realities of the world changed the directions of our efforts for the future we want: the climate and environmental change and their political surroundings, as well as the socio-economic crisis resulting from COVID-19 have influenced and amplified the already existent inequalities by increasing poverty worldwide. 

With such purposes, the Working Group on Business and Human Rights has been undertaking a project (UNGPs 10+) to take stock of UNGPs implementation to date and to build a course for action for the decade ahead. This report would include multi-stakeholder dialogue and consultations in all regions, that were a defining feature of the mandate that developed the UNGPs. This will be followed by a “roadmap for the next decade”, with forward-looking recommendations that will be launched in the second half of 2021. 

This is the right time for companies to plan how they will help make the next years of the Guiding Principles a time of action. For tackling with the gaps foreseen, actions must range from the commitment of implementation of business models respectful of human rights to providing access to remedy for victims of business-related impacts, in contexts as supply chains, purchasing practices, the use of technology, etc. It is also necessary improve corporate human rights performance data in terms of disclosure, alignment and consistency. Responsible businesses must be at the core of the responses to these challenges.