GENEVA—The Philippines expressed its support for efforts related to business and human rights, as the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organizations Evan P. Garcia attended the opening plenary of the seventh United Nations (UN) Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva.
“We are pleased that the forum [provided] an opportunity to enrich discussions on the practice of human rights due diligence among businesses. We believe these discussions are essential in contributing to better protection of affected communities, including women, children and indigenous peoples,” Garcia said.
The opening plenary of the UN meeting provided leadership and high-level perspectives on the main theme of this year’s conference, “Business Respect for Human Rights: Building on what works.”
In her opening remarks, High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet stated that business enterprises play an important role not only in respecting the human rights of workers and of people affected by business operations, but also in influencing and leveraging others to uphold human rights.
The forum also discussed trends, challenges and emerging good practices in translating the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for Implementing the UN’s “protect, respect and remedy” framework into practice, as well as promoting multistakeholder dialogue, as well as cooperation on business and human rights.