Business & Human Rights
The Business and Human Rights research programme focuses on the business and human rights issues relevant to commercial actors operating in our focal region. It places an emphasis on existing regulatory and non-regulatory initiatives for securing responsible business conduct whilst drawing on our in-region expertise to support emerging efforts to ensure corporate human rights compliance and sustainable responsible business.
The Business & Human Rights programme focuses on human rights issues relevant to corporate actors operating in our focal region, encompassing also environmental, social and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) matters. The last two decades in particular have seen increasing attention on the capacity of business actors to undermine human rights enjoyment and contribute to conflict and inequality in developing and fragile states. It has also nevertheless seen recognition of the role of these actors in supporting peace, development and good governance in such countries.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Business & Human Rights NEWS

Joint statement on conflict & due diligence legislation
The forthcoming EU due diligence Directive is lacking in its provisions for companies that are active in conflict affected areas and should be amended to align better with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Together with 50+ signatories, IPIS calls for a

New 5-year project aiming to empower communities and civil society to foster justice and human rights in Tanzania’s natural resource sector
In 2022, IPIS launched new work on the human rights impact of the natural resource sector in Tanzania. Our new five-year project “Empowering Tanzanian communities and civil society to foster justice & human rights in natural resource governance” builds on the expertise IPIS has been

Op-ed: Belgium’s inaction on diamond trade with Russia is not justifiable
This op-ed was published in Dutch in De Standaard on April 12, 2022 — Hans Merket The Antwerp diamond hub presents itself as the most ethical in the world. This does not sit well with turning a blind eye on the war in Ukraine. There

KP CSC Highlights of 2021
At the start of this new year the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition looks back on the previous one with these highlights from 2021