30 Nov 2017

A4ID Chief Executive, Yasmin Batliwala, speaks at the UN Global Forum on Business and Human Rights 2017

Yasmin Batliwala was invited to speak at the UN Global Forum on Business and Human Rights at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland this year.

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Yasmin Batliwala was invited to speak at the UN Global Forum on Business and Human Rights at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland this year.

The UN Forum is the world’s largest annual gathering on business and human rights with more than 2,000 participants from government, business, community groups and civil society, law firms, investor organisations, UN bodies, national human rights institutions, trade unions, academia and the media.

The Forum is the foremost event to network, share experiences and learn about the many initiatives to promote corporate respect for human rights.

Yasmin participated in a panel discussion on Pillar III of the UN’s Guiding Principles, “How lawyers can help communities access to remedy”.

This Pillar is about access to remedy for victims or potential victims of human rights abuses – whether by the state or companies or their business relationships. The idea behind this pillar is to counteract or make good any human rights harms that have occurred or to prevent further recurrence of harms or foreseeable harms.

The discussion considered how lawyers can better advise clients throughout the lifespan of a large-scale resource development project, and the importance of involving lawyers from the very beginning.

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Yasmin was joined by Kindra Mohr, Policy Director at Accountability Counsel, Rocio Panaguia, Senior Legal Advisor at International Bar Association’s Legal and Policy Research. Unit and Monika Metha from The International Senior Lawyers Project.

Speaking on the session, Yasmin commented: “It was an honour to share a platform with such a distinguished panel on a topic of such vital importance. Lawyers can and must play their part and understand their duties in helping communities and defending human rights.”

She went on to say “It’s encouraging to see the likes of Microsoft, Nestlé, IKEA and Marks & Spencer’s leading the way for Corporate sector together with some of the largest Banks all showing how Human Rights matter.”