Carry out 3 sets of activities on mandatory due diligence on human rights and the environment (MHREDD) in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. Forums in Brazil and Colombia introduced the topic and provided best practices for tools and frameworks, while in Mexico they deepened existing conversations and prompted practical action.
The 2018 corporate human rights benchmark found that 40% of the world’s largest companies fail to identify or mitigate human rights issues in their supply chains. While due diligence in Latin American countries is less, the movement for MHREDD is growing among civil society and governments around the world, with major investors and companies now calling for legislation. The COVID-19 pandemic has only reinforced this trend and is shaping the future debate. Now is the opportunity to prepare Latin America for this inevitable breakthrough in business and human rights. Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico are major policy-influencing economies, with advanced debates and experiences on these issues, and fertile ground for taking a further step toward MHREDD.
For this reason, the project has aimed to convene workshops and roundtables for business, government and civil society, with leading experts in the field, to discuss the collective benefits of MHREDD, provide guidance and examples of global best practice for MHREDD legislation and business implementation, and inform processes such as National Action Plans, regulatory and anti-corruption frameworks.