WEBINAR 1: THE MOMENTUM FOR mHRDD IN THE EU (April 26)
This webinar was the first of a series of a Webinar series on The Forthcoming EU’s Directive On Human Rights Due Diligence.
Panelists discussed the following issues : There is a notable momentum within the EU on regulating multinational businesses and global supply chains. What has convinced the EU and Member States to act? How come some businesses support a law on HRDD instead of voluntary approaches to CSR? What are the key parameters and points of contention in the current drafts from the European Parliament?
Chair: Malin Oud (Raoul Wallenberg Institute)
- Radu Mares (Raoul Wallenberg Institute) – EU’s CSR journey from voluntarism to
mHRDD - Cecilia Ekholm (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) – Why Sweden supports mHRDD and
where does this law fit in the ‘smart mix of measures’ on Responsible Business Conduct - Olga Martin-Ortega (University of Greenwich) – Enhanced spaces for stakeholder
participation and access to information through mHRDD - Greg Priest (Head of Social Impact and Human Rights at Inter IKEA Group) – How do companies reason about this new EU Directive and why some companies came publicly in support of mHRDD.
Watch the recording of this event here.
Panelists:
Radu Mares is senior researcher at Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights. He has Doctor of Law (2006) and Associate Professor (2012) degrees from the Faculty of Law, Lund University, Sweden. He is specialised in the area of business and human rights, with a focus on multinational enterprises and global supply chains. His work combines transnational law, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility perspectives. He serves as Interim Head of Research at RWI and contributes to the Institute’s institutional strengthening programs in Asia and Africa.
Cecilia Ekholm is Ambassador for Sustainable Business at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs since 15 January 2021. Her areas of responsibilities include promoting the Swedish Government’s Sustainable Business agenda in collaboration with relevant actors, as well as representing Sweden in international organisations such as the UN and OECD. She is chairperson of the Swedish National Contact Point and representative in the GRI Government Advisory Board. Her previous post was Swedish Ambassador to Peru. Cecilia Ekholm has a MSc in European Politics and Policy from the London School of Economics as well as a degree in Political Science from Lund University.
Olga Martin-Ortega is Professor of International Law at the School of Law, University of Greenwich, the UK. She has been researching business and human rights for over ten years, with focus on post-conflict reconstruction, transitional justice and international criminal law. She has advised the EU Parliament on mandatory human rights due diligence regulation and is currently working with the ILO on Fair Labour Recruitment and Human Rights. Olga is a member of the Board of Trustees of Electronics Watch, and of the London Universities Purchasing Consortium. She is in the Advisory Board of the International Learning Lab on Procurement and Human Rights.
Greg Priest is the Head of Human Rights and Social impact, Inter IKEA Group. He has over 20 years experience working with the business sustainability and human rights. In his current role he oversees the development of strategy and initiatives to support human rights integration into business practices while also supporting advocacy to influence positive change through legislation, regulation, standard setting and industry influence.He has held leadership positions in business sustainability with a focus on governance, policy development, codes of conduct and stakeholder engagement. He has been a board member on several global industry related initiatives.
WEBINAR SERIES AGENDA
WEBINAR 1: THE MOMENTUM FOR mHRDD IN THE EU (April 26)
WEBINAR 2: PRECEDENTS OF mHRDD IN EUROPE (May 17)
WEBINAR 3: A NEW EU BUSINESS MODEL? (June 14)
Find out more about the two other sessions of this Webinar Series here.
Photo by Guillaume Périgois on Unsplash.