The Council of Ministers of BiH adopted the Proposal of BiH Framework Guidelines for implementing the leading principles on business and human rights 2021-2025. By adopting the Guidelines, Bosnia and Herzegovina demonstrated its commitment to improving the protection of human rights in business.
In 2019, the Institute for Youth Development KULT, with financial support from the European Union and in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of BiH, launched an initiative to improve human rights in the business sector in BiH. This initiative is based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Since 2019, this initiative has achieved numerous successes, the latest of which is particularly significant as Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken a major step towards improving human rights in the business sector by adopting this important document.
How did we get here?
This is the result of several years of work and multiple important steps. The Institute initially conducted an analysis of human rights in the business sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina and created a Charter on Business and Human Rights. The Charter was adopted by some of the largest companies in BiH, such as AS Holding, Inside by Ećo, Planet, Wagner automotive, Centrotrans-Eurolines, Konzum, drogerie markt DM, along with many employers and other associations.
The Framework Guidelines were developed in 2020. In drafting this document, the Institute was supported by the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of BiH. This is the first document of its kind in BiH, and an important step in regulating respect for human rights in business. All the invested effort bore fruit when the BiH Framework Guidelines for the Implementation of the UNGP 2021-2025 were included in the work plan of the BiH Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees.
The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is an instrument comprising 31 principles for the implementation of the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework concerned with human rights issues in the business sector.
Adoption of the document at the national level
At the end of 2022, the Council of Ministers of BiH adopted the Proposal of BiH Framework Guidelines 2021-2025 for the implementation of the guiding principles on business and human rights. The document was published on the website of the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The framework guidelines are based on three pillars: the first pillar emphasizes the duty of competent authorities to protect human rights, the second emphasizes the obligations of the business sector to respect human rights, and the third pillar focuses on access to legal remedies for victims of human rights violations in the business sector.
By adopting this document, BiH has started the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
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