January 2024     

TODAY'S STUDENTS, TOMORROW'S LEADERS

Dear friends of the GCBHR,

We hope you all had a good start to the new year!

2024 is the year in which companies must be ready for new human rights due diligence regulations. They also need to start reporting on how they meet human rights requirements through their core business operations. 

The Swiss directive is narrower in scope than emerging EU regulations, but it explicitly asks companies to conduct human rights due diligence in the context of conflict minerals and child labor.

Our new white paper on child labor aims at supporting companies in meeting new legal requirements and better understanding why progress on child labor has been stalling. The white paper focuses on the emblematic case of child labor in the cocoa sector in Côte d’Ivoire and highlights that systemic progress requires stakeholders to share responsibility. Based on expert interviews, we map root causes of child labor and outline a strategy for these stakeholders.

Over the next months, we will also work on migration-related human rights risks in the global coffee supply chain. We just launched a new Business and Human Rights Clinic with Nespresso and six motivated students from our Master program at the University of Geneva. A previous Clinic with the International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA) recently resulted in a publication on the assessment of the "S" in ESG ratings, which highlights the applicability of clinical education that the GCBHR provides.

Preparing future leaders with human rights management skills will again be one of our key priorities in 2024. Through teaching (BHR courses at the bachelor and the graduate level this spring), developing case studies and other teaching resources (some with the International Labor Organization), guiding emerging scholars in the Business and Human Rights Young Researchers Summit, the Global Business School Network for Human Rights Impact Community (GBSN for BHR), and co-authoring a book on transformational business models, we want to contribute to shaping the next generation.

We are grateful for the support from many of you and are looking forward to working together in 2024. Advancing human rights in business and business school education never made more business sense than now.

Best wishes,

GCBHR Team

Highlights

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS CLINIC

Business and Human Rights Clinic with Nespresso

We launched a new edition of the BHR Clinic in collaboration with Nespresso. In this year’s BHR Clinic, we are exploring the dynamics of migrant workers in the coffee sector with a focus on Central America and India and will develop a diagnostic tool for agronomists to monitor and address risks for migrant workers.

ESG rating methodology to assess security-related human rights risks

As part of the BHR Clinic, we produced an ESG rating methodology together with the International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA) to assess the “S” in ESG in relation to security and human rights.This methodology encompasses 19 indicators to measure companies’ due diligence performance in relation to security-related human rights issues.

PUBLICATIONS

A root cause analysis of child labor in the cocoa sector in Côte d'Ivoire

Our recently published white paper aims at better understanding why progress on eliminating child labor has been stalling. We map the root causes of child labor and the mitigation strategies that companies, governments, and civil society organizations engage in. Based on expert interviews, we analyze current approaches and outline a way forward.

Caselet on cobalt sourcing in the Financial Times

In this instant caselet in the Financial Times, Prof. Michael Posner (NYU Stern) and Prof. Dorothée Baumann-Pauly highlight the challenges of responsible cobalt sourcing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the need for companies to acknowledge these challenges.

PAST EVENTS

Building Bridges - Energy Transition: Green and Just

As renewable energy sources can create new human rights challenges, the financial sector needs to address climate and human rights concerns in parallel. This panel discussion, organized as part of the Building Bridges Action Days on October 4th, explored how to assess and draft transition plans that achieve the dual goals of both environmental sustainability and social justice to inform financial institutions. 

The 7th Annual Meeting of the Global Business School Network for BHR

This meeting held on Nov. 30th at the University of Geneva encompassed an in-person session and a hybrid online session. The agenda included a diverse range of topics, such as the integration of human rights into teaching, showcasing regional collaborations within GBSN for BHR, expanding our community's geographical reach, and incorporating human rights principles into specialized management subdisciplines such as accounting and supply chain management.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Teaching Resources Seminar

Seminar on the open-source teaching resources developed in collaboration with ILO and GBSN

Online, 25 January 2024

BHR Young Researchers Summit

This annual summit provides an international platform for young scholars in the field of BHR

Geneva, 29-30 August 2024

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Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights
Uni Mail, 40, Boulevard du Pont-d’Arve
1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland