A4ID convenes senior law firm partners to discuss Business and Human Rights in India
On 15 September 2016 A4ID held a dinner for partners from leading Indian law firms to discuss Business and Human Rights, with guest speaker, Dr Surya Deva, Asia-Pacific Representative on the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.
A4ID is working in partnership with international and Indian law firms to grow the understanding of the legal profession in India on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).
To launch A4ID’s week of training for lawyers in New Delhi, senior partners from the largest law firms in India gathered to hear from Professor Surya Deva and discuss the opportunities for commercial lawyers in advising businesses on the UNGPs. Dr Deva is Associate Professor at the School of Law of City University of Hong Kong, and a member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, representing Asia-Pacific.
“We first gathered senior partners from law firms in London in 2011 to discuss how they could implement the UNGPs. Now we are doing the same in New Delhi. Next month we will do so in Nairobi. This is a global movement: lawyers who seek to practice responsibly, and who want to use their leverage with commercial clients to urge them towards responsible business practice,” said Elisabeth Baraka, Head of Partnerships and Legal Services at A4ID, who manages its Business and Human Rights Programme in India and Kenya.
A4ID is training lawyers in India and providing ongoing online and peer-peer knowledge sharing opportunities to equip them in advising their clients. In 2017, A4ID will run training for Indian businesses on what it means in practice to respect human rights and provide a remedy when breaches occur.
The event was sponsored by Clifford Chance and Weil Gotshal & Manges. The Programme is supported by the Clifford Chance Foundation.
For more information, please contact Elisabeth Baraka.
A4ID’s guide for the legal profession on the UNGPs can be found here.
Dr Surya Deva [right] is Associate Professor at the School of Law of City University of Hong Kong, and a member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, representing Asia-Pacific.
