Business and human rights continued its sprint around the globe in 2023. Between mandatory human rights due diligence laws that were debated and adopted, modern slavery acts proposed, enacted and evaluated, foundational standards reconsidered, and an avalanche of regulatory enforcement and civil actions in a bevy of jurisdictions, corporate responsibilities to respect human rights are expanding and becoming more deeply entrenched. That makes it, of course, easier to identify business and human rights issues and trends to watch in 2024, and harder to limit them to just 10; while as in years past we include a bonus topic, those left on the cutting room floor could create an impressive list on their own. Nonetheless, and even more so than in 2021, 2022, or 2023, in the spirit of Human Rights Day, which in 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the date the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we will be bold and venturesome. Some of our topics are cyclical, others just emerging, and a few persisting. But here are our top 10 + 1, in no particular order.

  1. Global Elections

2024 is the biggest election year in history. According to Bloomberg, voters in countries representing 41% of the world's population and 42% of its gross domestic product go to the polls in 2024, including in the U.S., India, Indonesia, Venezuela, South Africa, Mexico and Pakistan and about 35 countries. On a policy level, elections can bring a variety of human rights changes that can impact businesses positively and negatively. Indeed, we featured anti-ESG efforts in last year's top 10 list, and even non-election year 2023 saw 37 U.S. states consider 165 anti-ESG bills and a raft of politically motivated lawsuits and regulatory actions, which will increase exponentially amidst an election environment. In many places, elections also have brought human rights violations, whether through denying internet and media access, chilling freedom of expression, arresting opponents, suppressing votes, or post-election violence. Indeed, as a prologue, this year saw violent election-related clashes in Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, and 28 deaths in Nigeria, along with 30 reported assassinations/ attempted assassinations. In a recent poll in the U.S., about 25% of those surveyed said they believe "American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country."

Companies across a wide range of industries can cause, contribute to, or be directly linked to election-related negative human rights impacts, from technology companies impacting privacy rights of political opponents, to media and internet providers affording access to information in the face of censorship, to transportation businesses bringing protestors to flash points, to communications companies allowing engagement between voters and campaigns, to financial services connected to campaign support as an "integral element of the right to freedom of association," per the OHCHR. Others may impact the dynamics connected to conflicts, or make monetary contributions, directly or through associations, to parties that foment abuses. Even the hospitality industry has faced scrutiny for housing rioters in the U.S. and elsewhere.  Still others, and their employees, may be impacted by arrests, intimidation, looting, rioting, and aggression. Given the global electoral landscape, the elections will be a key business and human rights issue throughout 2024.

  1. CSRD & the Future of Human Rights Reporting

The EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which applies from 2024, covers EU and non-EU companies meeting certain thresholds. Reporting obligations occur in phases, with reports for the first tranche of covered companies due in 2025. The obligations are substantial, with 12 sector-agnostic standards encompassing a uniform set of disclosure areas. Within the four "S" standards, there are 374 reporting data points alone, out of 1,178 in total. Company disclosures are audited, although except for certain general disclosures, only those that present material impacts – identified through a "double materiality" analysis – must be included. Companies have begun to actively prepare for compliance, which will ramp up in 2024.