Event Details
The Malaysian government conducted its first National Steering Committee on the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAPBHR), chaired by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law), to formally kick-start this NAP process. Subsequently, three Technical Committees were established to look at various business and human rights issues in Malaysia. The Technical Committees are led by the Ministry of Human Resource (MOHR) focusing on labour issues, the Ministry of Environment and Water (KASA) focusing on environmental issues and the National Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption (GIACC) focusing on issues concerning governance.
As a next key step, a comprehensive data collection process – the National Baseline Assessment (NBA) – is conducted to ensure the scope and overall parameters of the NAPBHR are well understood.
This NBA process is an initiative for the collection and evaluation of reliable data from various stakeholders on topical and critical issues of business and human rights prior to the development of NAP. It would serve to provide an assessment of the current level of implementation of the UNGPs in the local context and setting. Further, it brings together an analysis of the legal and policy gaps in the implementation of UNGPs with an overview of the adverse human rights impacts of and by businesses and identify the most salient human rights issues in a given context.
This Roundtable Discussion, among other consultations, aims to obtain input for and support the NBA and further the development of the NAPBHR, by (i) documenting experiences and challenges; (ii) identifying gaps and best practices of the business community in Malaysia to promote and protect human rights and the environment; and, (iii) proposing recommendations to be highlighted in the NBA and consequently, to be incorporated into the NAPBHR.