The International Bar Association (IBA) invites comments on the “Updated IBA Guidance Note on Business and Human Rights: The role of lawyers in the changing landscape”.

As noted by the Association, over the last 12 months work has been underway to update and simplify the 2016 IBA Guidance on Business and Human Rights for Business lawyers.

The updated draft Guidance has been prepared by a small group of lawyers — listed at the end of the document — and approved by a wider group of 30+ lawyers working on business and human rights and ethics. This work was done in collaboration with the Law School of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. This work falls within the scope of our wider IBA Gatekeepers Project.

As the IBA emphasizes, the respect of human rights and the approach taken by business derives from the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (‘UNGPs’) which were unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011.

The aim of this consultation proposed by the IBA is to ensure that the simplified Guidance is accessible and used by Association's members and lawyers all around the world. To that end the IBA invites comments on the updated Guidance by Friday, May 19, 2023.

You can view and comment on the Guidance (available in English, French, Spanish, and Chinese) via this link. All comments must be provided in English. The structure of the survey allows you to leave comments on each separate section of the Guidance. Please also reference the paragraph number to which you are referring in the comments.

Should you have any broader or substantive comments about the initiative, please contact Sara.Carnegie@int-bar.org and Lara.Douvartzidis@int-bar.org.