Reflections and Directions − Business and Human Rights in Asia: From the First Decade to the Next

Important victories were won in the first decade of United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in Asia, including strengthened regional momentum on business and human rights and the adoption of Asia’s first national action plans (NAPs) on business and human rights. But stakeholders in Asia see many gaps and hurdles and the need for Asia’s BHR movement to adjust and recalibrate for the next decade ahead. The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights (UNWG) launched the project, ‘A vision for the next decade of business and human rights’, also known as UNGPs10+ and Next Decade of BHR. UNGPs10+ aimed to “take stock of achievements to date, assess existing gaps and challenges, and, most importantly, develop an ambitious vision and roadmap for implementing the UNGPs more widely and more broadly between now and 2030.” This report serves to contribute to UNGPs10+ by surveying the status of business and human rights (BHR) across Asia, bringing together different visions and identifying opportunities for the decade ahead. It presents an overview of the status of BHR in Asia and focuses particularly (but not exclusively) on 11 countries demonstrating some progress on BHR namely Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Viet Nam.