Brown Bag Lunch Series

Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in awareness that business and human rights are interconnected, including increased awareness that businesses can positively or negatively affect the protection of human rights through corporate operations, products and services, and through business relationships within the workplace, marketplace and community. The United Nations and many other organizations have proactively built upon this knowledge by supporting standards, initiatives, platforms and good practices to promote human rights around business activity. This presentation will introduce the human rights standards relevant to business from the UN Global Compact and the Guiding Principles on business and human rights. Our speaker, Ursula Wynhoven, will also highlight current initiatives focused on the role of business in women’s empowerment, children’s rights, and the rights of indigenous peoples.

Ursula Wynhoven is the General Counsel of the United Nations Global Compact Office and a member of the office’s Senior Management Team. In addition to managing legal affairs and handling governance matters, Ursula leads the office’s work on human rights and labor principles, including on women’s empowerment and business and children. Prior to joining the UN Global Compact Office, Ursula worked in private practice and with government human rights agencies in Australia and the United States. She also worked on the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the corporate responsibility initiative of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. A graduate of Columbia Law School and Monash University Law School in Australia, she is an Adjunct Professor in Business and Human Rights at Fordham Law School in New York.

Brown Bag Lunch Series