RightsCon Toronto 2018

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights indicate that businesses should carry out due diligence in order to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address human rights impacts. Over the past year, telecommunications companies have begun to publish more detailed information about their approach to human rights due diligence, with some even publishing full impact assessment reports. This interactive discussion will review some of the lessons that telecommunications companies have learned from conducting due diligence. We will seek consensus on some good practices and explore whether current practice is consistent with stakeholder expectations.

Questions to be addressed:

When is the right time to conduct a human rights impact assessment? When should a company use external experts to conduct due diligence, and when will internal resources suffice? How can due diligence be effectively built into a company’s day-to-day operations? What are some of the lessons learned in recent human rights due diligence activities?