Accelerating business respect for human rights

The Business & Human Rights Accelerator is a six-month programme activating companies participating in the UN Global Compact across industries and regions. The objective is to help businesses swiftly move from commitment to action on human rights and labour rights through establishing an ongoing human rights due diligence process. Run in collaboration with Global Compact Country Networks, the Business & Human Rights Accelerator aims to engage companies on a large scale, enhancing the collective impact of businesses in upholding human rights and labour rights globally.

The Accelerator programme will commence with an opening webinar in February 2025. The exact start date of Country Network sessions is to be confirmed.

The corporate responsibility to respect human rights applies to all companies, regardless of size, sector or location. It is also quickly becoming a business norm, with various governments taking action to require businesses to demonstrate they are taking their human rights responsibilities seriously.

Human rights are inherent to all people. Businesses too have a role to promote dignity and equality for all by respecting human rights and labour rights. Beyond being the right thing to do, all businesses around the world are expected to understand and implement international human rights and labour rights standards, reflected in increasing legislation and regulatory requirements. Participating companies will access on-demand courses, expert-led training and capacity building sessions, learn from global best practices and engage in peer-to-peer learning at the local level.

Companies that participate in the Business & Human Rights Accelerator will:

• Identify and assess your company’s actual or potential adverse human rights impacts
• Learn how to integrate those findings across processes and take appropriate action
• Track the effectiveness of measures and processes to know if they are working
• Understand how aligning operations with international standards prepares organizations for evolving human rights due diligence legislation
• Communicate how impacts are being addressed and show stakeholders that your company is taking action and seeing results
• Build a network of peers, UN partners and experts to support your human rights journey and work collectively to tackle the challenges of the human rights due diligence process

Participants will need to commit approximately 50 hours over the six-month programme period.

To take part in the Business & Human Rights Accelerator, companies are required to be participants of the UN Global Compact or willing to join. Your company should also be:

• Currently engaged with a Global Compact Country Network in your region or willing to join
• Willing to identify its human rights risks and impacts and scope a core area of your value chain for further focus
• Committed to developing an Action Plan to help address the human rights risks identified and prioritized
• Able to appoint two working-level representatives to attend sessions and participate in Accelerator activities and an additional executive-level representative to follow programme developments, provide support and participate in high-level events
• Commit to completing the programme and embedding the learnings across the company strategy and operations

A small fee to participate in the Business & Human Rights Accelerator will apply for all UN Global Compact participants:

Corporate Participants: AUD$1595.00 + GST
SME Participants: AUD$750.00 + GST

We recognise that enterprises have different impacts on human rights and labour rights. Further, companies are at varying levels of maturity on their business and human rights journey. We therefore encourage businesses of all sizes to consider the Business & Human Rights Accelerator and utilize the opportunity to start a due diligence process or further work already in progress.

Yes. Companies that already have a human rights due diligence process in place will benefit from engaging with experts and engaging in peer-to-peer learning. In addition to understanding how to take action on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact, companies will also be able to effectively complete the UN Global Compact Communication on Progress. Further, companies with truly inspiring best practice may also be invited to share their case studies on Global platforms and at relevant events.

While the programme is designed for business, non-business participants with expertise and knowledge relevant to business and human rights are encouraged to discuss opportunities to support the accelerator with their Global Compact Country Network representative.

In-Country Track: In-country tracks are facilitated in the local language and local time zone wherever possible. It will feature a series of live and on-demand sessions, hands-on support, workshops, and peer-to-peer networking opportunities.

In addition to the in-country tracks, there will be several regional tracks.

Africa Track: The Africa track will bring together companies from across the continent and offer the same curriculum as the in-country track delivered through a series of global and on-demand sessions. Peer-to-peer sessions will focus on regional best practice and case studies.

Asia Track: The Asia track will bring together companies from across the region and offer the same curriculum as the

in-country track delivered through a series of global and on-demand sessions. Peer-to-peer sessions will focus on regional best practice and case studies.

Latin America Track: The Latin America track will bring together companies from the region and offer the same curriculum as the in-country track delivered through a series of global and on-demand sessions. Peer-to-peer sessions will focus on regional best practice and case studies.

Global Track: Facilitated in English, the global track is available for companies that do not have a Country Network running the Business & Human Rights Accelerator. It will offer the same curriculum as the in-country track, and is delivered in English through a series of live and on-demand sessions. Space is limited. Please apply early.

For the in-country track, only companies based in countries where the Global Compact Country Network is running the Accelerator can participate. Note that companies must be members of the Country Network to take part. To learn more about how to join a Country Network, please click here. If a company is not based in a country with a Country Network that is running the Business & Human Rights Accelerator, it can sign up to the global track of the accelerator. Please read “What is the difference between the global and local track” for more information.

Please visit our website at unglobalcompact.org/bhr-accelerator to register for the Accelerator.