ICAR & ISHR Partner to Create Thematic Template on Human Rights Defenders in National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights

The International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR) and the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) have partnered to create thematic guidance on Human Rights Defenders in National Action Plans (NAP) on business and human rights.

Acknowledging that human rights defenders are a particular group of rights-holders adversely affected by corporate human rights abuse in many national settings, ICAR and ISHR recognize the value in giving them additional scrutiny in the creation of a business and human rights NAP. This report will provide guidance on how human rights defenders ought to be consulted in the development of NAPs and how their rights can be addressed through national policies on business and human rights.

This initiative is a follow-up project to ICAR’s seminal report with the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) on NAPs, entitled National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights: A Toolkit for the Development, Implementation, and Review of State Commitment to Business and Human Rights Frameworks, launched in June 2014. It is the second report in a series of Thematic Templates stemming from the NAPs Toolkit, following the release of the Children’s Rights in National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights, published by ICAR, DIHR, and UNICEF in November 2015.

For more information on the project, please contact Cindy Woods, ICAR’s Legal and Policy Fellow, at cindy@icar.ngo or Ben Leather, ISHR’s Advocacy and Communications Manager, at b.leather@ishr.ch.