In collaboration with the NI Human Rights Commission, Institute Fellow: Rights and Social Justice, Dr Marisa McVey and Anna Montgomery (Final Year LINAS Doctoral Scholar) launched the Northern Ireland Business and Human Rights Index Report, supported by the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI).

For the first time, the report provided an assessment of corporate implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in the region.

The report focused on 20 of the top businesses in Northern Ireland in 2023, assessing companies using a well-established methodology from the World Benchmarking Alliance.

The report offers a robust evidence base on how companies in Northern Ireland understand and implement human rights policies and practices across their operations.  It highlights gaps in compliance, identifies areas where targeted support is required, and provides clear guidance for policymakers and regulators.  Moving forward, the focus should be on ensuring that Northern Ireland companies fully align with the UNGPs by embedding locally tailored approaches to business and human rights.  This will require not only appropriate support and guidance for businesses on their responsibility to respect human rights but also a stronger regulatory environment both regionally and nationally. 

This report and underlying research were commissioned by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) with support from the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI). The research was conducted by researchers from the Business and Human Rights research cluster at the School of Law at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB).

Read the report here.