The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) expect business enterprises to undertake human rights due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for their adverse human rights impacts, and apply to "all internationally recognised human rights". Equality lies at the heart of the origins and interrelated nature of human rights, and therefore falls squarely within the ambit envisioned by the UNGPs. Existing equality legislation has often focused on individual abuses of the right to inequality, such as discrimination in the workplace, which can be contrasted with systemic inequalities that are built into the wider structures of society.
This conference will focus an intersectional lens on how the UNGPs apply to systemic inequalities, and consider the human rights due diligence responsibilities of companies in relation to systemic inequalities. It will also consider how the concepts of going beyond formal equality to substantive equality and justice apply in this context.
The conference will take place online and in two parts - Theory and Practice - set over two consecutive days in order to accommodate the speakers' respective time zones.