The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development strengthens the focus on human rights issues and their solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Many of the SDGs relate closely to economic, social and cultural rights, including rights focused on health, education, food, shelter, alongside the rights of specific groups such as women, children and indigenous peoples.
The 2030 Agenda emphasizes that the business sector is a key partner for the United Nations and governments in achieving the SDGs.
In this view, paragraph 67 of Agenda 2030 calls on “all businesses to apply their creativity and innovation to solving sustainable development challenges”. The Guiding Principles articulate how businesses are expected to contribute to the “people part” of the SDGs, namely placing respect for human rights at the centre of their activities and business relationships.
The international investment community and experts are consistently consolidating their approaches to creating sustainable business models that apply the principles of due diligence in human rights aspects throughout the value chain. Today companies are required to identify and, if necessary, prevent, stop or mitigate the potential adverse human rights impact of their activities.
Russian companies demonstrate certain achievements in this area, taking into account advanced standards on human rights aspects in business. However, today it remains a relatively fragmented experience.
Thus, with further systematization and generalization of experience, extention of expert support and interaction with government representatives, would be possible to significantly improve the practice of implementing the UN Guiding Principles by Russian business.