On 29 October 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, ASEAN CSR Network (ACN) will again convene a workshop on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) to follow up on commitments made in Bali earlier this year and spur greater interest.

Singapore Management University’s Asian Business and Rule of Law Programme (SMU-ABRL) and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights (UNWG) remain as key partners for the workshop.

The workshop is part of the ASEAN Responsible Forum taking place from 27-29 October 2015, three weeks prior to the upcoming ASEAN Summit 2015, which will also be held in Kuala Lumpur.

One output of the workshop and forum will be a joint communique encouraging ASEAN to include responsible business principles, and particularly, the corporate respect for human rights as described in the UNGPs, as an integral part of the ASEAN post-2015 agenda.

As mentioned earlier, the upcoming workshop is a follow up on our ASEAN Next-Gen CSR Forum in Bali, Indonesia, held on 6 February, 2015. Held also in conjunction with SMU-ABRL and the UNWG, the Bali Forum brought together key stakeholders from the region to introduce and encourage the development of National Action Plans (NAP) to implement them. 

Over 100 representatives from the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), national human rights institutions, business sector, civil society, and other relevant government agencies were on hand to participate in the one-day consultation workshop and the ASEAN Next-Gen CSR Forum which was held the next day.

At the workshop, UNWG Chair Michael Addo outlined the UNGP’s “protect, respect and remedy” framework, highlighting the need for all stakeholders to do their part in promoting human rights.

ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh, in his remarks at the ASEAN Next-Gen CSR Forum, reiterated that “the private sector and business community in the region through corporate social responsibility have been and will be able to contribute to the process of building and strengthening the ASEAN Community.”

Landmark commitments were made on behalf of several ASEAN member-states to pursue the development of NAPs on Business and Human Rights.

At the closing session of the ASEAN Next-GEN CSR Forum, Prof. Aung Tun Thet, Economic Adviser to the President of Myanmar, emphasized the importance of the UN Guiding Principles and stated that his country would embark on a journey of producing an NAP.

This followed previously announced plans by Malaysia and Indonesia to pursue the same. This opens the path for other ASEAN member-states to follow suit and explore the idea of creating a regional action plan.

This October, we have UNWG chair Michael Addo, SMU professor and human rights law expert Mahdev Mohan, and members of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights and various national human rights institutions who will continue their dialogue and share practical examples and approaches on how companies can adopt and implement the UNGPs.