Human Rights Due Diligence Forum

Episodes 

Vicky Bowman CMG

In this episode, Dr Jasmine Elliott speaks with Vicky Bowman CMG, Honorary Senior Fellow at BIICL and former Director of Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB). They talk about the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business as a collective action initiative amongst businesses and between businesses and civil society, and Vicky reflects on how learnings from the Centre can be applied in other contexts.

Further resources:
Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business 
Sector Wide Impact Assessments 

John Sherman III

In this episode, Dr Jasmine Elliott talks with John Sherman III, a business and human rights expert and an internationally recognized thought leader, about the implications of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for legal practice. They discuss the updated IBA Guidance Note on Business and Human Rights and its key takeaway messages for lawyers.

Discussed in this episode:
Updated IBA Guidance Note on Business and Human Rights: The role of lawyers in the changing landscape 
IBA publishes second edition of the IBA Guidance on Business and Human Rights for Bar Associations 
American Bar Association Resolution 604 urges lawyers and law firms to avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts in representing business clients in a manner consistent with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Contract Cancellation and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Responsible Contracting Project's Friend of Court Brief Before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

 Ben Vanpeperstraete

In this episode, Dr Jasmine Elliott speaks with Ben Vanpeperstraete, senior legal advisor at the ECCHR. They talk about key HRDD topics highlighted in BIICL's recently published report, Towards New Human Rights and Environment Due Diligence Laws: Reflections on Changes in Corporate Practice.

Discussed in this episode:
Towards New Human Rights and Environment Due Diligence Laws: Reflections on Changes in Corporate Practice - BIICL (2024)
Pakistani trade unionists take stock: The Supply Chain Act protects workers and trade unions on the ground! - ECCHR (2024)
Missed opportunity: No improvements in sight for labor and union rights at KiK supplier in Pakistan - ECCHR (2024)

Robert McCorquodale 

In this episode, Dr Jasmine Elliott talks with Robert McCorquodale, a member of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights. They talk about Robert's recently published book, Business and Human Rights, and more broadly about his career in business and human rights.

Discussed in this episode:
Business and Human Rights by Robert McCorquodale
Communications to Saudi Aramco by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
Report on Investors, Environmental, Social and Governance Approaches and Human Rights by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights

Eve Salomon CBE

Dr Irene Pietropaoli and Eve Salomon CBE discuss the reintroduction of the Foreign Agents Law in Georgia, the protests and international critique of this law due to its human rights impacts and the impacts that this law will have on businesses in Georgia. Eve is the chair of the board of trustees at BIICL and an international expert on media law and regulation who has worked across the world to improve legal standards which safeguard human rights and democratic freedoms.

Advisory Board 

Since its inception the Forum's programme has been guided on an informal basis by a small Advisory Board which currently comprises:

• Robin Brooks, Norton Rose Fulbright
• Julianne Hughes-Jennett, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP
• Daniel Leader, Leigh Day
• Professor Robert McCorquodale, Brick Court Chambers
• Lise Smit, Norton Rose Fulbright
  
• Suzanne Spears, Paxus LLP

Forum Members

HRDD Forum members include some of the most expert and experienced lawyers, academics and government officials and international civil servants working in the area of business and human rights. The Forum's membership is increasingly global, with current members in Australia, France, Germany, Nigeria, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US.

The Forum has members from the following organisations:

• Allens (Australia)
  
• Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
• Charles Russell Speechlys LLP
• Clifford Chance LLP
• Council of Ethics of the Norwegian Global Pension Fund
  
• Covington & Burling LLP
• Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
• Doughty Street Chambers
• Geulen & Klinger
  
• Hausfeld
• Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
• International Council for Commercial Arbitration
• Johnson Winter & Slattery
• Laudes Foundation
• Leigh Day
• LH Law & Consulting
• Matrix Chambers
• Norton Rose Fulbright LLP
• Paxus LLP
  
• Pogust Goodhead
• Ropes & Gray LLP
• Schellenberg Wittmer Ltd
• Six Pump Court
  
• Temple Garden Chambers
  
• Twenty Essex Street
• Vieira de Almeida & Associados
• Volterra Fietta
• White & Case
• Withers
• Zelle