UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)

The Principles rest on three pillars. States must protect people from abuse by businesses through law and policy. Companies must respect human rights, which means avoiding harm, addressing it when it occurs, and carrying out human rights due diligence. Both must make remedy available when harm happens, including through grievance channels. The corporate duty applies to all businesses, whatever their size, and covers harm linked to their operations, products and business relationships. They are not a treaty and carry no direct penalties, but they became the template for the OECD Guidelines, national action plans and due diligence laws such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. When a company's conduct is challenged, the Principles are usually the first yardstick brought out.

Campaigners ask a reinsurer about cover for a large dam project. Following the UN Guiding Principles, the reinsurer reviews whether families were displaced without consent, asks the client for a plan to reduce harm, and checks that affected residents can complain and seek compensation. It records the assessment and revisits it as the project progresses.