Resources

Since our founding in 2011, the year the UNGPs were endorsed, we have built a comprehensive body of resources to support their practical implementation. Our resources library brings together all our published materials, reflecting our commitment to sharing knowledge with diverse audiences.

These resources span guidance, tools, case studies, research and commentary, drawing on Shift’s work with companies, financial institutions, policy-makers and civil society around the world. Many have been developed in partnership with other stakeholders. Together, they are intended to support better decision-making, inform implementation efforts, and contribute to more effective approaches to preventing and addressing business-related human rights impacts.

We always welcome feedback on our resources – what’s useful, what else would be helpful. Please reach out to communications@shiftproject.org with any questions or feedback.

2026-07-20
Red Flag 10. Offering products that harm when used as intended
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2026-07-06
Shift CSDDD Explainer Series
2026-05-20
Social Performance Measurement: Practical Insights and Tips for Financial Institutions
2026-05-11
Shift Strategy 2026–2031
2026-04-17
Briefing: Weapons, Dual Use tech and Financial Institutions
2026-04-16
Building Consensus Around Just Transition metrics
2026-04-07
Community Engagement Financial Effects
2026-04-02
The Human Rights Opportunity – Introduction
2025-09-19
Red Flag 25. Greenhouse gas-intensive activities, products and services that contribute to negative impacts on people’s rights
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2025-04-17
Living Wage Accounting Model and Progress Tool
2025-04-16
Building Consensus Around Just Transition metrics
2025-03-13
Human Rights Due Diligence: The State of Play in Europe
2024-11-04
Understanding Impact Materiality: ESRS Reporting for Financial Institutions
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2024-11-01
Business and Human Rights: A Primer for Government Mission Personnel
2024-05-20
Strengthening the S in ESG
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2024-04-17
Tackling Child Labor: A Guide for Financial Institutions
2024-04-12
Submission to the International Finance Corporation/Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (IFC/MIGA) Consultation on the proposed “Approach to Remedial Action”
2023-11-01
State of Play of Corporate Human Rights Reporting Initiatives 2013
2023-10-25
Shift’s Response to the UN Working Group Consultation on Investors, ESG, and Human Rights
2023-10-03
Aligning the EU Due Diligence Directive with the International Standards: Key Issues in the Negotiations
2023-09-26
Human Rights Defenders and Shrinking Civic Space: A Guide for Financial Institutions
2023-08-31
Shift’s Submission to the ISSB’S Consultation on Agenda Priorities
2023-08-30
Understanding business impacts on people: the complementary approaches of ‘business and human rights’ and ‘social and human capital’
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2023-08-08
Putting the European Sustainability Reporting Standards into Practice
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2023-07-03
Indigenous Rights and Financial Institutions: Free, Prior and Informed Consent, Just Transition and Emerging Practice
2023-05-11
Designing an EU Due Diligence Duty that Delivers Better Outcomes
2023-02-28
Climate Change and Human Rights: Avoiding pitfalls for financial institutions
2023-02-17
Climate Change Background
2023-02-17
Climate Action and Human Rights: How the UN Guiding Principles can help companies respect human rights when responding to climate change
2023-01-06
What data do investors need to manage human rights risks?
2023-01-06
Embedding the UN Guiding Principles in Finland’s State Financing of Private Sector Activity Abroad
2022-12-27
Remedy in sports
2022-12-20
Enhancing the S in ESG: Tools for Investors and Lenders to Drive Better Evaluation and Engagement on Human Rights
2022-12-05
Comments by Shift on the ISSB Sustainability Reporting Standards
2022-11-30
La proposition de la Commission européenne pour une directive sur le devoir de vigilance des entreprises en matière de durabilité, Analyse de Shift
2022-05-16
The Case for Living Wages: How Paying Living Wages Improves Business Performance and Tackles Poverty
2022-04-18
Vorschlag der EU-Kommission für eine Richtlinie über Sorgfaltspflichten von Unternehmen im Hinblick auf Nachhaltigkeit, Analyse von Shift
2022-03-31
Análisis de Shift de la Propuesta de la Comisión Europea de una Directiva sobre Debida Diligencia en materia de Sostenibilidad
2021-10-25
Financial Institutions and Remedy: Myths and Misconceptions
2021-10-25
Enforcement of Mandatory Due Diligence: Key Design Considerations for Administrative Supervision
2021-10-18
Launch of the revised GRI Universal Standards
2021-09-08
Statement of Cooperation between EFRAG and Shift
2021-08-25
Red Flag 9. Products that harm when misused
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 16. Using data such that privacy and other rights are undermined
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 15. Business relationships with limited influence to address risk to people
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 22. Sales-maximizing incentives that put consumers at risk
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 21. Rapid digitalization that leaves workers little chance to adapt
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 24. Aggressive tax-minimization strategies
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 14. Commodities with unclear provenance and visibility into impacts on workers or communities
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 20. Shifting inventory risk to suppliers with knock-on effects to workers
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 19. Sourcing commodities that are priced independent of farmer income
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 13. Depleting or polluting natural resources or public goods such that it undermines access or health
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 23. Markets where regulations fall below human rights standards
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 18. Sourcing low-paid labor from labor providers
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 12. Land use in geographies where ownership may be contested
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2021-08-25
Red Flag 11. Speed in developing products or services, or delivering projects with risks to health and safety
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2021-08-24
Red Flag 8. Products that harm when overused
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2021-08-24
Red Flag 7. Financial or advisory services that enable high-risk clients to cause harm
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2021-08-24
Red Flag 6. Providing online platforms with potential for online and offline harm
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2021-08-21
Red Flag 17. Using gig workers or other forms of precarious labor
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2021-08-18
Red Flag 5. Algorithmic decision-making that can result in discrimination
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2021-08-18
Red Flag 4. Privatized access to public goods with risks to quality of services
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2021-08-17
Red Flag 2. High-speed that places pressure on warehouse workers and logistics workers in “the last mile”
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2021-08-17
Red Flag 3. Project timelines that undermine consultation with communities
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2021-08-16
Más Allá del Orgullo: los Derechos de las Personas LGBTI y la Responsabilidad Corporativa de Respetar
2021-08-16
Beyond Pride: The Rights of LGBTI People and the Corporate Responsibility to Respect
2021-08-11
Audio | Getting Contractual Provisions on Human Rights, Right
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2021-08-01
Red Flag 1. Offering lowest cost goods or services in ways that put pressure on labor rights
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2021-07-14
Human Rights & Labor Principles: A Business Imperative
2021-07-06
Using Leverage to Drive Better Outcomes for People
2021-07-02
The “S” in ESG: Best Practices and Way Forward?
2021-05-06
Measuring Quality of Relationships: Using ICMM’s “Understanding Company-Community Relations” Toolkit
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2021-05-06
Cultivating Voice in Relationships: Using Regular Micro-surveys at Scale to turn Stakeholder Experience and Perceptions into Actionable Data
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2021-05-06
Using Experiments to Assess Behavior Change Interventions
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2021-05-06
Sensemaker: Combining Stories, Numbers and Data Analytics to Uncover Hidden Dimensions of Relationships
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2021-05-06
Using Worker Voice Tools to Assess Relationships Between Workers and their Managers
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2021-05-03
Ten Years After: From UN Guiding Principles To Multi-Fiduciary Obligations
2021-03-23
Using Relationship Data to Improve Business Practices: Measuring Company-Community Relationships at a South African Mine
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2021-02-07
Evaluating Child Labor Programs: Uncovering How Local Norms Impact Field-Level Relationships Between Farmers, Workers and Children
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2021-02-05
Signals of Seriousness” for Human Rights Due Diligence
2020-12-10
Assessing whether Behavior Change Training can Improve Relationships Between Supervisors and Workers
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2020-12-02
Summary of Recommendations for an IOC Human Rights Strategy
2020-11-20
Making ‘Stakeholder Capitalism’ Work: Contributions from Business & Human Rights
2020-11-09
Our three-year timeline
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2020-10-26
Corporate Activism through the Lens of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
2020-10-23
Transforming How Business Impacts People: Unlocking the Collective Power of Five Distinct Narratives
2020-10-13
Setting Targets and Tracking Performance
2020-10-13
Examples of Targeted Action
2020-10-13
Taking Action on Systemic Human Rights Challenges
2020-10-13
Risk Identification
2020-10-06
Accountability as part of Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence: Three Key Considerations for Business
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2020-09-30
Using the lenses of LGBTQI vulnerability to identify and prioritize risk
2020-09-25
Does our human rights work… work? The case for experimentation and testing
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2020-09-25
Adding Human Rights to the Shopping Cart
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2020-09-16
Adding Human Rights to the Shopping Cart
2020-09-15
Applying Leadership and Governance Indicators of Rights-Respecting Culture
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2020-09-15
Applying Indicators of Business Model Red Flags
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2020-07-21
Black Lives Matter: Putting Human Rights at the Heart of Corporate Responses
2020-06-30
COVID-19 and Human Rights: Impacts and Business Action in the Seafood Sector
2020-06-26
Human Rights Due Diligence during COVID-19 and Lessons for the Future
2020-05-14
Making Rights-Respecting Business Decisions in a COVID-19 World
2020-05-13
The Human Rights Opportunity – Living Wages
2020-05-13
The Human Rights Opportunity – Land Rights
2020-05-13
The Human Rights Opportunity – Gender Equality
2020-05-13
The Human Rights Opportunity – Forced Labor
2020-03-30
Shift’s Dissecting Disclosure Series
2020-03-29
Introduction to the series
2020-03-19
Efforts to Tackle Gender-Based Impacts
2020-03-19
Engagement with Vulnerable Stakeholders
2020-03-01
Shift’s Analysis of the EU Commission’s Proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
2020-02-04
Respetar los Derechos Sindicales en las Cadenas Globales de Valor
2019-12-27
Conference ‘Business & Human Rights: Towards a Common Agenda for Action
2019-12-11
Handling and Resolving Local-Level Concerns and Grievances
2019-12-07
Keynote Address by John Ruggie at the Conference ‘Business & Human Rights: Towards a Common Agenda for Action’
2019-12-06
Reporting et Droits de l’Homme en France: Phase II (FR)
2019-12-06
The Role of Regulation in a Mix of Measures to Foster Responsible Business Conduct
2019-12-01
Handling and Resolving Local-Level Concerns and Grievances SPANISH
2019-12-01
Handling and Resolving Local-Level Concerns and Grievances ENGLISH
2019-11-24
Human Rights Reporting in France: Phase II (EN)
2019-11-23
Let’s Talk Mandatory Measures: Supporting a Meaningful Discussion Among all Stakeholders
2019-10-08
Respecting Trade Union Rights in Global Value Chains: Practical Approaches for Business
2019-10-07
Accounting for Companies’ Human Rights Performance
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2019-09-19
The Problem with How we Measure Business Respect for Human Rights
2019-09-13
The Use of Metrics in Human Rights Reporting in the Food and Beverage Sector
2019-09-13
The Current Use of Metrics in Company Human Rights Reporting in Southeast Asia
2019-09-11
Developing Red Flag Indicators of Human Rights Risks in Business Models
2019-09-11
The Use of Metrics in Human Rights Disclosure in the Extractives and Oil Equipment Sector
2019-09-11
The Use of Metrics in Company Human Rights Reporting in Poland
2019-09-11
The Use of Metrics in Company Human Rights Disclosure in the ICT Sector
2019-09-11
The Current Use of Metrics in Company Human Rights Reporting South Africa
2019-09-11
SMEs and the Responsibility to Respect Human Rights
2019-08-26
Evaluating Business Respect for Human Rights: A Theory of Change Methodology to Develop Meaningful Indicators
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2019-07-25
Stakeholder Voice: Learning from Affected Stakeholders to Better Evaluate Program Effectiveness and Outcomes
2019-07-17
Expert Roundtable on Business, Human Rights and Behavioral Science: A Summary Report
2019-07-17
Business and Human Rights Meets Behavioral Science: A Background Note
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2019-06-27
Expert Roundtable on Business, Human Rights and Accounting: A Summary Report
2019-05-01
Addressing Sector-Wide Risks Through Negotiated Covenants in the Netherlands
2019-03-11
Shift and Former UN Human Rights Chief to Advise the International Olympic Committee on Developing a Human Rights Strategic Framework
2019-03-07
Rights-Respecting Corporate Culture: Cultural Norms & Values that Underpin Business Respect for Human Rights
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2019-02-23
An Analysis of ESG Rankings, Ratings and Indices
2019-02-14
Doing Business with Respect for Human Rights (Spanish)
2019-01-11
Human Rights Reporting in the Canadian Mining Sector
2019-01-07
Tackling Modern Slavery through Financial Sector Leverage
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2018-12-19
Engaging Affected Stakeholders: Evaluating the Quality of Processes for Company-Community Engagement
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2018-11-01
Reporting et Droits de l’Homme en France: Phase I (FR)
2018-09-30
Developing Leadership & Governance Indicators
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2018-09-28
Human Rights Reporting in France: Phase I (EN)
2018-09-12
Discussion Paper #1 Evaluating Business Respect for Human Rights: Towards a Shared Way of Thinking
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2018-09-07
Viewing the Valuing Respect Project through the Lagging v. Leading Indicator Lens
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2018-09-01
Human Rights Reporting in France Introduction to the Series
2018-08-28
Evaluating Human Rights Performance
2018-08-01
The Human Rights Opportunity
2018-01-01
Mapping Grievance Mechanisms in the Business and Human Rights Arena
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2017-07-01
Handbook for Lawyers on Business and Human Rights
2017-06-21
Shift Submission on Potential Modern Slavery Act in Australia
2017-05-10
Human Rights Reporting: Are Companies Telling Investors What They Need to Know?
2017-02-24
John Ruggie Letter to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker
2017-01-20
NBIM Workshop Report: Implementing the UN Guiding Principles
2016-11-22
Doing Business with Respect for Human Rights
2016-11-13
Business, Human Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals: Forging a Coherent Vision and Strategy
2016-09-22
Webinar: Relationship Between the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Guiding Principles
2016-07-22
Business and Human Rights in New Zealand
2016-07-09
Relationship between the SDGs and the UN Guiding Principles
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2016-06-01
ESG Toolkit for Fund Managers: Briefing Note on Human Rights
2016-06-01
IBA Practical Guide on Business and Human Rights for Business Lawyers
2016-05-02
Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Abuses: A Guide for Victims and NGOs on Recourse Mechanisms
2016-05-02
Improving Accountability and Access to Remedy for Victims of Business-Related Human Rights Abuse
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2016-05-01
Business and Human Rights: A Five-Step Guide for Company Boards
2016-04-14
For the Game. For the World.” FIFA and Human Rights
2016-04-01
Webinar: Integrating Human Rights Considerations Into Mergers and Acquisitions
2016-02-01
Introduction to Salient Human Rights Issues
2016-01-01
What Do Human Rights Have to Do With Mergers and Acquisitions?
2015-12-02
Webinar: Introduction to the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework
2015-12-01
Independent Review and Recommendations for FIFA on Human Rights
2015-12-01
How to Do Business With Respect for Children’s Right to Be Free From Child Labour
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2015-09-01
Guidance for UK Company Directors on Human Rights
2015-07-01
Mapping the Modern Slavery Act Against the UN Guiding Principles
2015-03-01
Human Rights Due Diligence in High Risk Circumstances
2015-02-01
UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework
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2015-02-01
How Can Businesses Impact Human Rights?
2015-02-01
Key Terms on Business and Human Rights
2015-01-01
Guidance for Companies on Respecting the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation
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2014-10-01
Building the Capacity of OECD National Contact Points
2014-09-01
Embedding Respect for Human Rights in Key Company Functions
2014-06-01
Evidence of Corporate Disclosure Relevant to the Guiding Principles
2014-06-01
Supporting Norway’s Export Credit Agency on the Guiding Principles
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2014-06-01
Building Capacity on the UN Guiding Principles in Ghana
2014-05-01
Remediation, Grievance Mechanisms and the Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights
2014-05-01
Costs of Company-Community Conflict in the Extractive Sector
2014-05-01
Organizing the Human Rights Function Within a Company
2014-01-02
Business and Human Rights Impacts: Identifying and Prioritizing Human Rights Risks
2013-12-01
Supporting Effective Factory-Level Grievance Mechanisms With the Better Work Programme
2013-11-01
Using Leverage in Business Relationships to Reduce Human Rights Risks
2013-08-01
Bringing a Human Rights Lens to Stakeholder Engagement
2013-08-01
From Audit to Innovation: Advancing Human Rights in Global Supply Chains
2013-07-01
Supporting the OECD on Stakeholder Engagement in the Extractive Sector
2013-06-01
European Commission Sector Guides on Implementing the Guiding Principles
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2013-05-02
Dispute or Dialogue? Community Perspectives on Company-Led Grievance Mechanisms
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2013-04-01
Conducting Meaningful Stakeholder Consultation in Myanmar
2013-03-01
Collaborating With the IFC on Guidance for High Risk Contexts
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2013-02-01
Unternehmensverantwortung für Menschenrechte: Ableitung von Handlungsempfehlungen auf der Basis von Experteninterviews und internationalen Fallstudien
2013-01-02
The UN Guiding Principles: Practical Implications for Business Lawyers
2013-01-01
Supporting the Norwegian OECD National Contact Point
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2013-01-01
Advising the German Labor Ministry on Implementation of the UN Guiding Principles
2012-11-02
Human Rights Reporting and Assurance Frameworks Initiative
2012-11-01
How to Use the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in Company Research and Advocacy: A Guide for Civil Society Organisations
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2012-10-01
Advising the Peruvian Financial Regulator on Improved Corporate Management of Social Conflict
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2012-10-01
Are There Risks in Knowing and Showing?
2012-10-01
Advising the International Council of Toy Industries on Alignment with the Guiding Principles
2012-10-01
Respecting Human Rights Through Global Supply Chains
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2012-09-01
Corporate Culture and Conflict Management in the Extractive Industries: A Study in Peru
2012-09-01
Bringing A Human Rights Lens to Corporate Water Stewardship
2012-07-02
Implications of the Guiding Principles for the Fair Labor Association
2012-06-07
Embedding Respect for Human Rights Within a Company’s Operations
2012-06-01
Embedding the Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights Within Company Culture
2012-06-01
Corporate-Community Dialogue: Documentary Series
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2012-02-01
Advising the Global Network Initiative on a Public Engagement Mechanism
2012-02-01
Guidance for Companies on Respecting Children’s Right to Be Free From Child Labor
2012-02-01
Advising the Fair Labor Association on Alignment With the Guiding Principles
2012-02-01
European Commission Human Rights Sector Guides
2011-11-01
The Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights: An Interpretive Guide
2011-06-02
Principles for Responsible Contracts: Integrating the Management of Human Rights Risks Into State-Investor Contract Negotiations
2011-06-01
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
2011-05-01
Piloting Principles for Effective Company-Stakeholders Grievance Mechanisms: A Report of Lessons Learned
2008-11-01
Human Rights Translated: A Business and Reference Guide
2008-04-01
Protect, Respect and Remedy: A Framework for Business and Human Rights

Dr. Christine Chow /

Board Member

She/Her

Linkedin-in
Dr. Christine Chow has more than 25 years’ experience in investment management spanning sustainable investment, corporate governance, technology and AI.

She has held senior leadership roles at UBS Asset Management, HSBC Asset Management and Federated Hermes, where she led global stewardship, thematic research, responsible investment and engagement with companies on sustainability and governance issues. She was the human rights engagement lead at Federated Hermes, where she pioneered its approach to global value chain engagement with electronics companies, and advocated for provenance and traceability of critical minerals.

Christine served as Managing Director at UBS Asset Management, leading on global stewardship, thematic research and impact engagement. Previously, she was Global Head of Stewardship and a board member of HSBC Asset Management UK Limited, and Head of Asia and Global Technology at Federated Hermes EOS. From 2019 to 2025, she served as a board member and then Chair of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), a global investor-led organisation representing around US$100 trillion in assets under management across more than 40 countries.

Christine is recognised internationally for her work on responsible investment, AI governance and corporate stewardship. She has published influential work on responsible AI and data governance and was a member of the UK Parliament’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence, serving on its Data Governance Task Force. She is the Appointed Advisor of AFRC in Hong Kong, the independent regulator of the accounting profession, and Emeritus Governor of the London School of Economics. Her PhD research on responsible investment was shortlisted for a United Nations award recognising industry relevance and academic excellence.

David Vermijs /

Director

He/Him Amsterdam

Linkedin-in

As Director, David engages with business partners to better identify, prioritize and act on salient human rights issues, embedding the UN Guiding Principles in companies’ decision-making processes.

Specializes in Business Enterprises

As Director, David engages with business partners to better identify, prioritize and act on salient human rights issues, embedding the UN Guiding Principles in companies’ decision-making processes.

David has over a decade of experience advising multinational corporations, governments, NGOs and others on business and human rights. Prior to joining Shift, David provided research assistance to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for business and human rights John Ruggie. As part of his contributions, David field-tested human rights due diligence with a group of Dutch companies and their stakeholders, and he supported research on company-led grievance mechanisms.

From 2008 to 2010, David was the lead consultant on an 18-month project, the Business and Human Rights Initiative, under the umbrella of the Global Compact Network Netherlands. The initiative was a collaboration between 10 Dutch multinationals – ABN AMRO, AkzoNobel, Essent, KLM, Philips, Rabobank, Randstad, Shell, TNT and Unilever – and led to the publication of a ground-breaking business guidance tool, How to Do Business with Respect for Human Rights, in 2010. Through his work at Shift, David led the update of this publication from 2014 to 2016 with the support of the Dutch government under their National Action Plan on implementing the Guiding Principles.

Another major guidance tool David has helped develop addresses due diligence on child labor, published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) in 2015. The guidance was the result of a multi-year, multi-stakeholder, multi-country project led by David involving the ILO, IOE, companies, unions, NGOs and other stakeholders.

David was previously a Research Fellow at the Corporate Responsibility Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School, including assisting in teaching on business and human rights, global governance, corporate governance and leadership. David sits in a personal capacity on the board of the Dutch Social and Economic Council International Corporate Social Responsibility Committee. He has a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Arts in Business from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. David is a Dutch national, speaks English and Dutch and is proficient in Spanish and German.

Anna Triponel /

Senior Associate

She/Her London

Linkedin-in

As a Senior Associate with Shift, Anna advises companies, lawyers, investors and business associations on how to put the Guiding Principles into practice.

As a Senior Associate with Shift, Anna advises companies, investors and business associations on how to put the Guiding Principles into practice. Trained as a lawyer, Anna focuses particularly on working with legal professionals on their role in implementing the Guiding Principles and has led work on analyzing regulations in various jurisdictions and how they align to the Guiding Principles. She also has particular expertise on the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework. 

Prior to joining Shift, Anna provided input to the work of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for business and human rights John Ruggie as a legal consultant. During this period, Anna also opened the New York office of the Public International Law & Policy Group, where she advised government officials, opposition leaders, human rights victims and civil society organizations on human rights, constitutional reform and transitional justice in Burma, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Somaliland, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Anna was previously a mergers and acquisitions associate at the law firm of Jones Day in New York, where she advised a broad range of multinational companies on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint venture, private equity and venture capital transactions. She founded and led the law firm’s International Law Pro Bono Group. She began her career as an advisor to the World Bank, advising on development governance structures to better meet the Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education.

Anna is a (non-practicing) lawyer qualified in New York, England & Wales and France. She is a frequent expert speaker and writer on business and human rights and is the recipient of various professional awards, including the Empire State Counsel Award for changing the lives of those unable to afford counsel and the Seymour-Reuben Award for shaping international law. Anna has a Masters in International Law from American University Washington College of Law and a degree in common and civil law from the University of Paris X. She has been awarded the Business Sustainability Management certificate from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and the MBA Essentials certificate from London School of Economics (LSE). Anna is a British and French national and speaks English and French.

Martyn Platt /

Head of Human Resources

He/Him

As Head of Human Resources, Martyn leads Shift’s global people strategy and oversees all aspects of HR across the organization.

As Head of Human Resources, Martyn leads Shift’s global people strategy and oversees all aspects of HR across the organization. He ensures that Shift’s systems, policies and practices foster a thriving, inclusive and values-driven culture that supports our mission to embed respect for people’s dignity at the core of business practice.

Martyn brings over a decade of HR leadership experience across mission-driven and international organizations working at the intersection of business and society. Prior to joining Shift, he was Director of People Development & Culture at the PRI and earlier worked with Business in the Community. In these roles, he developed and embedded HR business partnering models, guided the organizations through significant growth and transformation, and partnered with senior leaders to design and implement people strategies that supported the delivery of their mission. Most recently, he served as a consultant with the WeProtect Global Alliance, where he supported the establishment of their HR function.

He is a Chartered Member of the CIPD and holds a Level 7 Diploma in Human Resource Management, as well as an ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring, reflecting his strong focus on leadership development and coaching. Martyn studied German and International Relations at the University of Exeter, including a year at the University of Würzburg in Germany. He later worked on education projects in Nicaragua, strengthening his global outlook and commitment to people-centred change.

Martyn is based in the United Kingdom.

Brianna Peterson /

Senior Advisor

She/Her Rome

Linkedin-in

As a Senior Advisor at Shift, Brianna advises financial institutions and companies on how to put the UNGPs into practice, with a particular focus on the nexus between human rights and climate change.

Specializes in Financial Institutions

As a Senior Advisor at Shift, Brianna advises financial institutions and companies on how to put the UNGPs into practice, with a particular focus on the nexus between human rights and climate change. Brianna combines environment and climate change expertise with experience developing and implementing human rights policies, due diligence approaches and sustainability reporting.

Before Shift, Brianna spearheaded innovative sustainability initiatives at Sustainable Development Technology Canada and Export Development Canada (EDC). At EDC she led the development and implementation of exciting new portfolio approaches for climate change and human rights risk management, as well as aligning EDC’s corporate reporting with international reporting frameworks, such as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures and the UNGPs Reporting Framework.  She also led EDC’s international sustainability negotiations and engagements, including as co-Chair of the Equator Principles Climate Change Working Group.

Prior to joining EDC, Brianna worked for nine years as a diplomat with Canada’s foreign ministry, including four years at the United Nations General Assembly where she led environment and development negotiations, advocacy and outreach on behalf of the Government of Canada, including for the creation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Brianna has also advised international financial institutions including the World Bank Group, institutional investors, bilateral development agencies, and small- and medium-sized enterprises on the practical application of environment, climate change, human rights standards.

Brianna has an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Queen’s University and a Master’s degree in Environmental Change & Management from the University of Oxford.

Ashleigh Owens /

Director | Financial Institutions Lead

She/Her New York City

Linkedin-in

As Shift’s Director / Financial Institutions Lead, Ashleigh leads our work with financial institutions and supports other partners across industries, leveraging her breadth of experience to tackle cutting-edge issues and entrenched challenges on the road to implementation of the UN Guiding Principles.

Specializes in Financial Institutions | Valuing Respect

As Director / Financial Institutions Lead, Ashleigh engages directly with financial institutions, companies and investors as they embed respect for human rights into their operations and business relationships. She also leads on pieces of research under our Valuing Respect Project, which is focused on developing better ways to evaluate business respect for human rights. Ashleigh has a breadth of experience approaching the Guiding Principles from business, legal and academic perspectives and brings a holistic view to Guiding Principles implementation.

Ashleigh was previously Executive Director at Ernst & Young’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services. At EY Japan, she led a team of consultants supporting policy-making, educational program and governance design, stakeholder dialogue and due diligence strategies for multinational and domestic companies across a variety of industries.  As founder of the EY Human Rights Network, she led the enhancement of EY’s human rights capabilities across EY’s global network. In her role she was a frequent speaker and moderator of dialogues at multi-stakeholder fora and functioned as a connector between civil society, government and corporate actors with a common goal of empowering business to respect rights.

From 2012 to 2014 she conducted research at the United Nations University in the field of Sustainability Science, specializing in business and human rights. She prepared research for the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and spent time at the UN Global Compact New York and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Ashleigh later sat on the UN Global Compact’s Human Rights and Labour Working Group and drafted the Global Compact’s 2015 Guide on How to Develop a Human Rights Policy.

Ashleigh is a lawyer qualified in Australia and England & Wales and specialized in intellectual property law, labor law and public international law. She has advised governments and companies on state human rights obligations, companies on the nexus between bilateral investment treaties and human rights and fellow lawyers on integrating the Guiding Principles into legal advice. In 2007 she won the Intellectual Property Society of Australia & NZ prize.

Ashleigh has authored or contributed to a number of publications including: Business and Human Rights: Corporate Japan Rises to the Challenge (joint publication between EY Japan and Global Compact Network Japan), Corporate Social Responsibility Can Save Japan (Op-ed in Japan Times), Cumulative Human Rights Impacts (in UN Global Compact/ Maplecroft Business Dilemmas Forum) as well as several legal publications on intellectual property law in Australia and English translations of Japanese High Court judgments. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)’s Division for Prosperity.

Ashleigh has degrees in Law and Asian Studies from the University of Western Australia, with studies also conducted at the University of Vienna and Sophia University in Japan. She has a Masters of Science in Sustainability from the United Nations University and has undertaken the institution’s Leadership for Sustainability program. Ashleigh is an Australian national, and is fluent in Japanese.

Rachel Davis /

Vice President and Co-Founder

She/Her Sydney

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As the Vice President and Co-Founder of Shift, Rachel helps shape our strategy and oversees a range of our collaborations with companies, governments, investors, civil society and other partners. Rachel is also responsible for driving our work on standards advocacy and with sports associations.

Specializes in Standard Setters | Sports and Human Rights

Rachel is one of Shift’s co-founders and has led work at Shift over the last decade on standard-setting, human rights and sports, financial institutions, conflict and international law.

As Vice President, Rachel shapes our strategy and oversees a range of our collaborations with companies, governments, investors, civil society and other partners. Rachel leads Shift’s work to influence standard-setters of all kinds to integrate the UN Guiding Principles into the rules that govern business, including engaging with governments and the European Union on mandatory human rights due diligence.

Rachel also has unique experience advising and leading efforts to drive respect for human rights into the operations of global sports governing bodies. Rachel was the Chair of FIFA’s independent Human Rights Advisory Board while it operated, between 2017 and 2021. She has advised the International Olympic Committee on human rights since 2018, including co-authoring recommendations for the IOC on a comprehensive human rights strategy with former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein.

Rachel has more than a decade of experience in implementing the Guiding Principles with a wide range of organizations, including public and private financial institutions and companies from diverse business sectors and geographies, and she frequently leads and facilitates engagements with senior audiences around the world. She is the co-author of the leading study of the costs of company-community conflict in the extractive sector.

Prior to co-founding Shift, Rachel was a senior legal advisor from 2006-2011 to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on business and human rights, Harvard Professor John Ruggie. She played a pivotal role in the development of the Guiding Principles, advising on all aspects of the relationship between the Guiding Principles and national and international law.

Rachel is also a Senior Program Fellow with the Corporate Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School and has experience at the highest levels of the Australian legal system and internationally, having clerked at the High Court of Australia and at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. She has a particular interest in Indigenous peoples’ rights, having advised the Australian Federal Attorney-General’s Department on Indigenous affairs and acted as Ruggie’s liaison with the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues during his UN mandate.

Rachel has a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School and Bachelors degrees in Law and Politics from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, where she also lectured and published in law. She is a (non-practicing) lawyer qualified in New South Wales.

Federico Burlon /

Director

He/Him London

As Director at Shift, Federico engages with business partners to better identify, prioritize and act on salient human rights issues, embedding the UN Guiding Principles in companies’ decision-making processes.

Specializes in Business Enterprises

As Director at Shift, Federico engages with business partners to better identify, prioritize and act on salient human rights issues, embedding the UN Guiding Principles in companies’ decision-making processes.

Prior to joining Shift, Federico was Head of Delivery at Impactt. Federico managed a portfolio of clients, supported by a team of consultants. He led human rights assessment and remediation projects in the construction, energy, food and shipbuilding industries. This resulted in positive outcomes such as the return of passports and reimbursement of recruitment fees to workers and the strengthening of companies’ employment practices. Federico led Impactt’s engagement with the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy in Qatar as external monitor of worker welfare in the construction of venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He also developed Impactt’s Diagnostics community of practice, delivering for clients as well as building internal capacity to execute human rights assessments around the world, with a focus on worker voice.

Prior to Impactt, Federico was a Sustainability Manager at Tesco plc. He contributed to the roll out of Tesco’s ethical trading programme to the goods-not-for-resale value chain. Federico engaged with hundreds of product and services suppliers and internal purchasing and sourcing teams to raise awareness of human rights issues and to prioritise and address the findings from third-party social audits. He also worked on climate change to develop a roadmap to achieve Tesco’s carbon reduction commitments related to direct and supply chain emissions.

In prior roles, Federico worked with a variety of human rights organisations in the United Kingdom and United States.

Federico holds a MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and a BA in Political Science and International Studies from Macalester College, with a focus on human rights law and international migration. He is a United World College Adriatic alumnus and is from Argentina.

Erika George /

Board Member

She/Her

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Erika George is Director of the Tanner Humanities Center and Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law at the University of Utah. She has conducted leading research and is a passionate advocate for women’s rights, children’s rights, gender equality and environmental justice. 

Professor Erika R. George is the Associate Dean for Equity, Justice, & Engagement, Professor of Law, and Ernest Haddad Faculty Scholar at Boston University School of Law and a leading expert in business and human rights.

Professor George is the author of “Incorporating Rights: Strategies to Advance Corporate Accountability” (Oxford University Press, 2021), which examines the evolution of demands for corporate responsibility to respect international human rights. She was a founding member of the editorial board of the Business and Human Rights Journal (Cambridge University Press) and since 2022  has served on the board of Shift. 

Before joining BU Law in 2024, Professor George spent over two decades at the University of Utah as the Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law. She directed the Tanner Humanities Center for four years and worked to enhance engagement and expand and diversify audiences for public humanities programs during her tenure. She also advocated for academic freedom and the right to read. Along with the former poet laureate of Utah, she co-founded the PEN America Utah Chapter to protect access to information and prevent censorship. 

Professor George is an elected member of the American Law Institute, an American Bar Foundation fellow, a trustee of Earthjustice, and serves on the Executive Board of the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights.

She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Society of American Law Teachers’ M. Shanara Gilbert Human Rights Award and the Salt Lake City Human Rights Commission Human Rights Award.

Professor George earned her BA with honors from the University of Chicago, a MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago, and a JD from Harvard Law School. She also clerked for Judge William T. Hart of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. She was a litigation associate at the law firm of Jenner & Block in Chicago before joining Human Rights Watch as a research fellow.

We recorded an interview with Professor George when she joined Shift’s Board in February of 2022. It is available here.

Erika George is Director of the Tanner Humanities Center and Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law at the University of Utah. Prior to joining the University of Utah, Professor George served as a law clerk and litigation associate at prominent firms in both Illinois and New York. She also worked as a fellow and later consultant at Human Rights Watch, where she conducted investigations in South Africa on women’s rights, children’s rights, violence, the right to education and abuses related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She wrote a book-length report, Scared at School: Sexual Violence Against Girls in South African Schools, which received widespread media coverage in South Africa and internationally. She currently serves as special counsel to the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch.

Her scholarship has appeared in the California Law Review, the Michigan Journal of International Law, the New York University Journal of International Law and Policy, and the annual proceedings of the American Society of International Law.

Professor George has served on the Executive Committee of the U.S. Department of State Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan and as a member of the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah. She is an Editor for the blog globaljusticeblog.com.

We recorded an interview with Professor George when she joined Shift’s Board in February of 2022. It is available here.

John Ruggie /

Founding Chair / In Memoriam

John Ruggie is the author of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

In Memory of John Ruggie

John served as the founding Chair of Shift from 2011 to 2021. He was the Berthold Beitz Research Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He also taught at the Berkeley and San Diego campuses of the University of California, and at Columbia University where he became Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs. From 1997-2001 John served as UN Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning in the cabinet of Kofi Annan; from 2002-2005 as Special Advisor to the Secretary-General for the Global Compact; and from 2005-2011 as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Business and Human Rights.

A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, he received numerous awards from academic and professional societies for his contributions to social science, public policy and the development of international law. In addition to serving as Shift’s Board Chairman, John was also on the Board of Arabesque Asset Management Holding Company as well as Unilever’s Sustainability Advisory Council. His book, Just Business: Multinational Corporations and Human Rights, has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

Caroline Rees /

President and Co-Founder

She/Her New York City

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As Shift’s President, Caroline leads our strategic development and drives our thought leadership work on key challenges and opportunities in advancing corporate respect for business and human rights.

As the President and Co-Founder of Shift, Caroline leads our organizational strategy and development and drives our thought leadership work on key challenges and opportunities in advancing corporate respect for business and human rights. Caroline speaks extensively at events around the world and frequently facilitates dialogue and debate amongst companies, governments, investors and civil society. In recent years, Caroline has focused on improving corporate human rights reporting as a catalyst for better human rights risk management, and on improving the data and methods used in evaluating companies’ social performance as part of ESG (environmental, social and governance) analysis. She has written and spoken extensively on the relevance of business respect for human rights, and the UNGPs specifically, to movements that seek to advance sustainability, equality, ESG investing, stakeholder capitalism, and human and social capital.

Caroline previously spent 14 years with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. From 2003 to 2006 she led the UK’s human rights negotiating team at the UN and she ran the negotiations to establish the mandate of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on business and human rights. The success of this initiative led to Professor John Ruggie’s appointment and from 2007-2011 Caroline was a lead advisor on his team and deeply involved in the drafting of the Guiding Principles.

From 2009 to 2011 Caroline was also the Director of the Governance and Accountability Program at the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School and she remains a Senior Program Fellow there. Caroline is a member of the Imperatives Board of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Board of the Capitals Coalition, the Unilever Sustainability Advisory Council, and the Steering Committee of the Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures.

Caroline’s prior British foreign service career covered Iran, Slovakia, the UN Security Council in New York and the European Union in Brussels. Caroline has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from Oxford University and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Caroline is a British national and speaks English, French and German.