It has been an eventful five years since the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles for (UNGP) in 2011. We have seen an increasing number of states developing National Action Plans and businesses adopting new human rights commitments, and there are now new discussions taking place on the implementation of the UNGPs and the possibility of a binding treaty. This level of traction and progress of the field has been promising, no question. But for this field to remain relevant going forward, it needs to evolve and adapt to a rapidly changing—and increasingly unequal—world. The question is: how?
Inequality,
Economic inequality is quickly becoming one of the defining issues of our time. Few would question the assertion that inequality, human rights and business are inextricably intertwined. As the Center for Economic and Social Rights has aptly argued, extreme inequality represents both a cause and a consequence of human rights violations. Not only do human rights violations drive inequality (e.g., the erosion of labor rights, discrimination, barriers to political participation) but unequal societies are also more likely to pose challenges to broad-based protection of human rights.
