From 19-20 April 2016, over 500 delegates gathered in Doha, Qatar for the First Asia Forum on Business & Human Rights organised by the United Nations Working Group on Business & Human Rights (UNWG) and the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR).

Prof. John Ruggie, special representative of the UN Secretary General and author of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, delivered the keynote address. ASEAN CSR Network (ACN) supported the organisation of the event by providing advice to the organisers on the agenda and speakers to help ensure Asian relevance at the event, as well as chairing several sessions throughout the two day forum. Thomas Thomas , CEO of ACN, chaired the opening high-level panel that tackled the challenges to scaling up UNGP implementation in the region.  

Mr. Thomas also chaired a special sub-regional session on Southeast Asia, where the idea of developing a ‘Regional Action Plan’ for ASEAN was raised by Dr. Seree Nonthasoot, Thailand’s representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights.

In a session on “Mega-sporting events”, the Qatari government and the organising committee for the World Cup 2022 also took the opportunity to detail the steps they are taking to ensure better protection for migrant workers involved in the construction of its stadiums. This was in reaction to the special independent report presented by John Ruggie as part of FIFA efforts to develop a FIFA Human Rights Policy.  Many delegates called for the abolishment of the “kafala system” of sponsoring migrant workers, citing it as major problem and highly prone to abuse.

Mr. Jerry Bernas, Programme Director of ACN, chaired a session on ‘Corporate Reporting on Human Rights.’ Representatives from Thai Union Frozen products, Companies Commission of Malaysia and GIZ India participated in the panel discussion to discuss the importance of corporate reporting specific to human rights and the challenges and trends around it.

Dante Pesce, Chair of the UNWG, delivered the closing remarks and emphasized the importance of various stakeholders in driving the UNGPs forward.