o Chairperson Lee Sung-ho of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea participated in the 2016 UN Forum on Business and Human Rights from 14-16 November in Geneva, Switzerland.
o The Forum is hosted by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights annually and is one of the most important international meeting in the field of business and human rights.
o This year, the forum was held under the theme of “Leadership and Leverage: Embedding human rights in the rules and relationships that drive the global economy” and 2000 people from international institutions, 130 governments, CEOs and civil society organizations participated to discuss human rights management.
o Chairperson Lee was invited as high-level panel and participated in the NAP session to explain progress of Korea’s NAP on Business and Human Rights and leadership required for establishment of the NAP.
o Chairperson Lee stated in his presentation that the Korean government or enterprises used to consider the NAP on Business and Human Rights as new form of regulation that could interfere or hinder business management activities. However, continued communication with diverse stakeholders including enterprises brought about changes in their perception. He added that the NHRCK presented the recommendation draft on NAP on Business and Human Rights to pursue sustainable growth and development of enterprises.
o He also explained that the Korean government is reviewing recommendations made by the NHRCK to include issues related to business and human rights in establishing the general NAP in December.
o The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights invited Chairperson Lee as a high-level panel for two consecutive years which reflected international community’s positive evaluation on the efforts of the NHRCK to create human rights friendly environment.
o The NHRCK will continue to monitor establishment and implementation of the NAP on Business and Human Rights by Korean government and enterprises and make its best efforts to create an environment where enterprises respect human rights in their management activities.
