IBA Issues Groundbreaking Practical Guide on Business and Human Rights for Business Lawyers

Shift supported the development of the guidance | Jump to the guidance

This news announcement originally appeared on the International Bar Association website.

Also see: Guest Viewpoint on the guidance from IBA President David W. Rivkin

The International Bar Association (IBA) has endorsed groundbreaking guidance for business lawyers on how to practice law with respect for human rights. On May 28, 2016, the IBA Council, the organization’s governing body, voted by majority to adopt the IBA Practical Guide on Business and Human Rights for Business Lawyers during its mid-year meeting in Barcelona. Shift Senior Advisor and Legal Counsel John F. Sherman III chairs the IBA Business and Human Rights Working Group, which developed the guide over an 18-month global consultation process.

Read the complete news announcement here.

John Ruggie Letter to ILO Director General Guy Ryder

On May 30, 2016, ahead of the 2016 International Labour Conference, Shift Chair and author of the UN Guiding Principles John Ruggie wrote a letter to ILO Director General Guy Ryder on specific aspects to be addressed at the Conference related to the Guiding Principles.

This letter was originally published by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. 


Dear Guy,

I have been following with great interest the preparations for discussions on decent work in global supply chains at the upcoming International Labour Conference. And I very much welcome the references to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in the ILO background report (“Decent work in global supply chains”). As you know, the UNGPs carefully frame corporate responsibility in supply chain contexts in a manner that all stakeholder groups have found useful, and which contributed to the UNGPs’ unanimous endorsement by the UN Human Rights Council.

In the interest of sustaining and building on that consensus, allow me to allow two points of clarification intended to ensure that the excellent background paper is not misunderstood on the subject of the UNGPs. (I will share this letter with interested stakeholders.) The first point concerns the concept of “control” by lead firms, and the second the “cause/contribute/linked to” distinction embodies in the UNGPs.

Click here to see the complete letter.