1st Regional Forum
on Business and Human Rights
in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Making Human Rights a Priority for Business
23-25 November 2020 | Virtual Event
Forum
09:00 - 13:00 Central European time (CET)
11:00 - 15:00 Istanbul time
14:00 - 18:00 Nursultan time
Business and Human Rights
in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
In November 2020, the UNDP Istanbul and Bangkok Regional Hubs and the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights convened the first Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights in Eastern Europe and Central Asia to promote a vigorous dialogue on BHR in the region. Over three days, the virtual Forum brought together over 850 participants and viewers from civil society, private sector, governments, NHRIs, academia, labor and international organizations working on business and human rights in the ECIS region and beyond. The discussions contributed to raising awareness of business and human rights and promoting the UNGPs in the region. The Forum also aimed to evaluate the main achievements, opportunities and remaining challenges to implementing the BHR agenda. It provided inputs on the practices, gaps, and challenges necessary for scaling up the implementation of the UNGPs in the next decade.
Following the first edition's success, the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights will convene the 2nd UN Forum on Business and Human Rights on 11-12 November 2021.
As a vital platform for sharing existing and emerging business and human rights practices within the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the online Forum is expected to enable meaningful exchange and facilitate constructive dialogue and peer-learning among government officials, representatives of businesses, international organizations, civil society, and academia from the ECIS region and beyond.
PROGRAMME
Forum
The Forum will be held in English with live Russian translations available.
MONDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2020
All Times in Central European Time (CET)
09:00 – 10:00
Introduction to UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
This is an orientation session that is optional for participants, who want to learn about UN Guiding Principles in advance to the meeting.
Moderator:
Zeliha Aydin
Legal and Human Rights Specialist, UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub
Speakers:
SIniša Milatović
Business & Human Rights Specialist, UNDP
Harpreet Kaur
Business & Human Rights Specialist, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre
10:00 – 10:40
High-Level Opening Plenary
This session will set the stage of the event and through keynote remarks will help frame the meeting’s discussions around priority issues in global and regional responsible business practice, with emphasis on growing momentum worldwide, especially in Europe, towards improving corporate human rights performance through mandatory human rights due diligence.
Moderator:
Robert Bernardo
Governance and Peacebuilding Team Leader, a.i., UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub
Speakers:
Agi Veres
Deputy Director, UNDP Europe and the CIS
Wolfgang Bindseil
Head of Division Business and Human Rights, Federal Foreign Office, Germany
Anita Ramasastry
Chair, UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
Roberto Suarez Santos
Secretary General, International Organisation of Employers
Salome Zurabishvili
Executive Director, Global Compact Network Georgia and CIDA
10:40 – 11:00
11:00 – 11:15
11:15 – 12:30
Plenary Discussion
Break
Session I – The State duty to protect human rights in a business context in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Gaps, challenges and opportunities
This session will allow participants explore and unpack the human rights duties of the state when dealing with business enterprises activities as expressed in the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human rights, with a focus on the role of National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights (NAPs) in ECIS region.
Moderator:
Livio Sarandrea
Business and Human Rights Lead Adviser, UNDP
Speakers:
Sonja Tošković
Director, Belgrade Center on Human Rights
Olena Uvarova
Head of the International Lab on Business and Human Rights, Yaroslav Mudriy National Law
University in Ukraine
Maria Molodtsova
Senior Counsellor, Department for Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights, MFA, Russian Federation
Patrick Matthey
Political Officer for B&HR, Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bern Area, Switzerland
Ketevan Tatuashvili
Human Rights Secretariat of Georgia
12:30 – 12:45
12:45 – 13:00
Plenary discussion
Closure of Day 1
TUESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2020
All Times in Central European Time (CET)
09.00 – 09.15
09:15 – 10:15
Opening of Day 2
Session II - Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) and Lessons Learnt in ECIS Region
This session will allow participants reflect on key emerging trends, opportunities and challenges in application of mandatory human rights due diligence, especially in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, through reviewing regional developments in regulatory, legal policies and practice, as well as through showcasing examples of national and multinational businesses that undertake HRDD (national and multinational).
Moderator:
Siniša Milatović
Business and Human Rights Specialist, UNDP
Speakers
Dante Pesce
Vice Chair, UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
Cristina Tebar Less
Head of the OECD Responsible Business Conduct
Shubha Sekhar
Director Human and Workplace Rights, Eurasia Coca-Cola
Seher Alacaci Ariner
Assistant Resident Representative, UNDP Turkey
Aysun Sayın
Chief People, Culture and Sustainability Officer, WPP and Global Compact Turkey Working Group on
Diversity and Inclusion
Ekaterina Deikalo
Associate professor at the Faculty of International Relations of Belarusian State University
10:15 – 10:45
10:45 – 11:00
11:00 – 12:00
Plenary discussion
Break
Session III – Improving Accountability and Access to Remedy
This session will help participants reflect on the effectiveness of existing accountability measures and judicial and non-judicial remedies to business-related human rights abuses in the region. Examples of work of institutions that facilitate access to justice in regard to human rights abuses by businesses will be showcased, such as national human rights institutions (NHRIs), National Contact Points under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, civil society organizations and courts.
Moderator:
Ben Shea
Associate Human Rights Officer, Business and Human Rights, Thematic Engagement, Special
Procedures and Right to Development Division Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights
Speakers:
Dirk Hoffmann
Senior Advisor, the Danish Institute for Human Rights, the ENNHRI BHR WG Chair Institution
Tamar Gvaramadze
First Deputy Public Defender of Georgia
Marina Ee
Head of Social Performance Subdivision, Corporate Affairs Department, Sakhalin Energy
Investment Company Ltd.
Tatyana Zinovych
Acting director of the Legal Policy Research Centre, Kazakhstan
Ana Dangova Hug
Law firm INTER PARTES Skopje
12:00 – 12:30
12:30 - 12:45
Plenary discussion
Closure of Day 2
WEDNESDAY, 25 NOVEMBER 2020
All Times in Central European Time (CET)
09:00 – 09:05
09:05 – 09:45
Opening of Day
Session IV - Gender Lens to the UNGPs in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
During this session, participants will reflect and exchange on issues of discrimination and differentiated impacts experienced by women and girls in the context of business activities, as well as on gender responsive frameworks (gender-responsive assessment, gender transformative measures, and gender transformative remedies) – that States, business enterprises and other stakeholders could use to achieve substantive gender equality in the region.
Moderator:
Luciana Trindade de Aguiar, Head of Business Call to Action, UNDP Finance Sector Hub
Speakers:
Joanna Szymonek,
Msc, co-founder and Chairperson of the Oversight Board of Polish Institute for Human Rights and Business
H.E. Ambassador Staffan Herrström
Ambassador Designate of Sweden to Turkey
Olena Uvarova
Ph.D, Head of the International Lab on Business and Human Rights, Yaroslav Mudriy National Law
University in Ukraine
Melih Özsöz
Innovation & Creativity Manager, Limak Holding Turkey
09:45 – 10:10
10:10 - 10:20
10:20 – 11:00
Plenary discussion
Break
Session V - The Business and Human Rights Dimension of Green Recovery
Following the trend towards mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence, e.g. upcoming adoption of EU law on due diligence and European Green Deal, ECIS countries would also need to start exploring similar approaches, so that they will ensure that human rights will be central to their ‘Green Recovery’ and ‘build back better’ efforts from the pandemic. The session will help participants explore possible actions for governments, business communities and civil society in ensuring environmental and human rights due diligence based on presented analysis and the examples shared from the region and beyond.
Moderator:
George Bouma
Sustainable Development Team Leader, UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub
Speakers:
Mauricio Lazala
Deputy Director & Head of Europe Office, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Jovan Protic
ILO National Coordinator for Serbia, ILO Decent Work team in the ILO Office for Central and Eastern
Europe (Budapest)
Sergey Solyanik
Consultant, Crude Accountability (Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan)
Dr. Peter Pawlicki
Director of Outreach and Education, Electronics Watch
11:00 - 11:30
11:30 - 11:45
11:45 – 12:30
Plenary discussion
Break
Closing Plenary – Toward the Next Decade of implementation of the UNGPs? Taking Stock of the first Ten Years and Priorities for the Next Ten
This session will provide opportunity for participants to share key insights on the next steps and actions towards accelerated implementation of UNGPs in the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the next decade. The discussion will also take stock of promising developments and practices (by governments, businesses, international organizations, civil society organizations, etc.), as well as gaps and challenges in UNGPs implementation in the region.
Moderator:
Ainura Bekkoenova
Human Rights and Rule of Law Expert, UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub
Speakers:
Dante Pesce
UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
Nina Panikova
Human Rights Officer, European Network of National Human Rights Institutions
Vasyl Andreyev
President of Construction workers union of Ukraine
Ryszard Komenda
Regional Representative of OHCHR Central Asia
Salome Zurabishvili
Executive Director, Global Compact Network Georgia and CIDA
Marina Vashukova
Head of Global Compact Russia
Javier Martín Cerracín
Policy Officer – Human Rights, / Global 1, European External Action Service
12:30 - 13:00
13:00 - 13:15
Plenary discussion
Closure of the Forum
Please check back regularly for updates, speaker information
and announcements.
PROGRAMME
Side Events
The Side Events will be held in English with live Russian translations available.
Please note, no translation is available for the Side Event on November 24.
MONDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2020
All Times in Central European Time (CET)
13:30 – 15:00
Side Event with International Organization of Employers:
Collective Action – the Dos and Don'ts to Strengthen Partnerships for Addressing Systemic Challenges
Moderator:
Matthias Thorns
IOE Deputy Secretary-General
Welcome and setting the scene
Renate Hornung-Draus
IOE Vice-President for Europe and Central Asia
The importance of collective action
Dante Pesce
Member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
What works and what doesn’t – key experience from the ground
Katherine Torres
Senior Technical Officer on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, ILO/ Child Labour Platform
Elaine McKay
International Affairs Director, ECLT/JTI
Jürgen Janssen
German partnership for sustainable textiles
Didier Bergeret
Director, Social Sustainability & SSCI, The Consumer Goods Forum
What needs to happen to strengthen partnerships
Moderator: Luke Wilde
Managing Partner and Founder, Twentyfifty
Alison Tate
Director, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
William Rook
Senior Advisor, Strategy and Programmes, IHRB
Yann Wyss
Senior Public Affairs Manager, Social and Environmental Impact, Nestlé
TUESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2020
All Times in Central European Time (CET)
13:00 – 14:30
Side Event with Belgrade Center on Human Rights:
From Voluntarism to Obligation: Business and Human Rights in South-Eastern Europe
Positive trends in the field of business and human rights have largely bypassed South-eastern Europe to date. Only Slovenia (a country that is only occasionally included in the region by various observers and academics) has adopted a National Action Plan on business and human rights. This panel will explore those nascent efforts; panellists will reflect on how businesses can be prompted to change their engagement with society from the ethos of Corporate Social Responsibility, characterised by voluntarism and philanthropy, to one of Business and Human Rights, that sees businesses recognise their obligation to respect internationally human rights and address the risks and impacts of their activities.
Moderator:
Siniša Milatović
Business and Human Rights Specialist, UNDP
Speakers:
Jernej Letnar Černič
Graduate School of Government and European Studies (Ljubljana and Kranj), Associate Professor
of Human Rights Law
Ana Dangova Hug
Inter Partes Law Firm
Tamara Puhovski
Impact House Consulting, Founder
Nevena Dičić Kostić
Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, Business and Human Rights expert
Adil Rehman
ASOS, Ethical Trade Manager
Kemal Özkan
Assistant General Secretary, IndustriAll Global Union
WEDNESDAY, 25 NOVEMBER 2020
All Times in Central European Time (CET)
13:30 – 15:00
Side event by Business and Human Rights Lab at Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University of Ukraine:
Migration and Forced Labour: Building an Effective Response in the EE & CA Region
Moderator:
Olena UVAROVA
PhD, Co-Founder of the Central and Eastern European Business and Human Rights Association,
Associate Professor, Head of the International Business and Human Rights Lab at Yaroslav Mudryi
National Law University (Ukraine)
Session I
Combating forced labour through the UNGPs implementation tools: risks and challenges in the region
Recognizing the importance of addressing forced labour and specific vulnerabilities of migrants to modern slavery, this side event examines recent efforts of states, businesses and CSOs in the region in combating forced labour in the region in general, andimplementing identification and prevention tools in particular. The event will showcase various ways and examples in which key actors have been successfully overcome existing challenges to effectively responding to forced labour in the region in the context of the implementation of UNGPs. The role of human rights approach in state policies, corporate practices and regulations to protect migrants from Estern Europe and Central Asia will be discussed.
Speakers:
Luiz Antonio Machado
Technical Specialist on Forced Labour, Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Branch, ILO
Etsuko INOUE
Programme Coordinator, Migrant Protection and Assistance, International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Umida NIYAZOVA
Executive Director, Uzbek Forum for Human Rights
Nodira ABDULLOEVA
Member of Human Rights Center (Tajikistan)
Aleh GULAK
Chair of Belarus Helsinki Committee (Belarus)
Session II
The role of human rights approach in state policies, corporate practices and regulations to
protect migrants from CE and CA
During this session, participants will reflect and exchange on issues of exploitation risks and forced labour abuses of migrants in EU countries in the context of business activities, as well as on frameworks and tools that States, business enterprises and other stakeholders could use to prevent forced labour.
Speakers:
Nicolaj Sonderbye
Senior Democracy and Human Rights Advisor, UNDP Ukraine
Beata Faracik
Co-Founder of the Central and Eastern European Business and Human Rights Association,
President of the Polish Institute on Human Rights and Business, Poland
Olena Stepanenko
Representative of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights on Socio-Economic
and Humanitarian Rights
FEATURED SPEAKERS
SESSION SLIDES AND SPEECHES
Session Slides
Introduction to United Nations Guiding Principles (day 1)
SIniša Milatović, Business & Human Rights Specialist, UNDP;
Harpreet Kaur, Business & Human Rights Specialist, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre
State’s Duty to protect – National Action Plans (day 1, session 1)
Livio Sarandrea, Business and Human Rights Lead Adviser, UNDP
Swiss NAP on B&HR (day 1, session 1)
Patrick Matthey, Political Officer for B&HR, Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bern Area, Switzerland
UNGP Pillar III and OHCHR’s Accountability and Remedy Project (day 2, session 3)
Ben Shea, Associate Human Rights Officer, Business and Human Rights,
Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division OHCHR
UNGP Pillar III and the role of National Human Rights Institutions (day 2, session 3)
Dirk Hoffmann, Senior Advisor, the Danish Institute for Human Rights, the ENNHRI BHR WG Chair Institution
Gender Dimension of Internal Displacement in Ukraine: UNGPs Perspective
(day 3, session 4)
Olena Uvarova, Ph.D, Head of the International Lab on Business and Human Rights, Yaroslav Mudriy
National Law University in Ukraine
Challenges and Opportunities for Human Rights Due Diligence in Supply Chains
(day 3, session 5)
Peter Pawlicki, Director of Outreach and Education, Electronics Watch
Translating Human Rights Due Diligence into Practice: how to identify and prevent
Beata Faracik, Co-Founder of the Central and Eastern European Business and Human Rights Association, President of the Polish Institute on Human Rights and Business
Vulnerability of migrants towards human trafficking and forced labour
Etsuko Inoue, Programme Coordinator, Migrant Protection and Assistance, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Ukraine
A Decade Monitoring and Reporting on Child and Forced Labor in Uzbekistan‘s Cotton Sector
Umida Niyazova, Executive Director, Uzbek Forum for Human Rights
Speeches
Opening Remarks (day 1)
Agi Veres, Deputy Regional Director UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and Central Asia
Closing Remarks (day 3)
Gerd Trogemann, Manager of the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub, UNDP Regional Bureau for
Europe and Central Asia
Anita Ramasastry, Chairperson UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, at 1st Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 23 November 2020
Session II - Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) and Lessons Learnt in ECIS Region
Dante Pesce, Vice-Chair UN Working Group, at 1st Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 24 November 2020
PARTNERS
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1st Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Making Human Rights a Priority for Business
CONTACT US
Please direct your queries related to programme, sessions, speakers, participation, side events etc. to
Ainura Bekkoenova ainura.bekkoenova@undp.org
and Zeliha Aydin zeliha.aydin@undp.org.
Please direct all registration and Zoom technical questions to elizabeth@insightpact.com.