Bangkok - UNDP launched new Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) training materials and tools today to help businesses prevent, mitigate, and account for potential human rights abuses in their operations and supply chains.

The Human Rights Due Diligence Training Facilitation Guide, available on the UNDP website, provides flexible training modules which clarify what is required for companies to conduct human rights due diligence. The training guide is aligned with internationally agreed principles and widely understood terminology. It follows recommendations provided by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

The HRDD Training Facilitation Guide is complemented by a Human Rights Self-Assessment Training Tool featuring 99 potential business-related human rights risks with references to international human rights instruments and relevant Sustainable Development Goals. This tool allows users to simulate a human rights self-assessment with a sample of five or more human rights risks, producing a heatmap to highlight priority areas for action.

The guide and training tool were developed by UNDP’s Business and Human Rights in Asia project, in partnership with the EU. The international law firm, Clifford Chance provided generous pro bono assistance in the development of the content of the Human Rights Self-Assessment Training Tool.

At the launch of the HRDD training package, Niloy Banerjee, Resident Representative of UNDP Malaysia pointed out that “the role of Human Rights Due Diligence has never been more important to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. A lot more needs to be done to ensure that we create an environment where human rights abuses cannot occur. And providing free training and easily accessible training materials for businesses that want to operate responsibly is an important step.”

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UNDP B+HR Asia: Enabling Sustainable Economic Growth through the Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework, is a multi-country project promoting the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in close partnership with Asian governments, business, and civil society, through dialogue, training, research, small grant provision, and awareness raising activities. The action, valued at € 6.5 million, is funded by the European Union Service for Foreign Policy Instruments.

Media contact:

Anna Keller, anna.keller@undp.org, +669431732336 (Bangkok)