Applications Invited for the Business & Human Rights Accelerator 2025-2026

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About the Organization

The United Nations Global Compact is a voluntary initiative based on CEO commitments to implement universal sustainability principles and to undertake steps to support UN goals.

It is the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative, launched in 2000 by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to encourage businesses to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies based on 10 universal principles. It operates as a framework, bringing together businesses, UN agencies, labor groups, and civil society to mainstream these principles in their operations and drive collective action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The initiative has local networks worldwide and supports companies in all sectors to align with its principles on human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption.

About the Fellowship  

The idea of human rights is as simple as it is powerful: That all people have a right to be treated with dignity.

Business is about people. Directly or indirectly, businesses often impact the human rights of their employees and contract workers, workers in their supply chains, the communities around their operations and the end users of their products or services. Businesses impact virtually the entire spectrum of internationally recognized human rights.

As a result, companies have both a responsibility and an opportunity to advance human rights across their operations, supply chains and beyond. Is your company able to know and show that it supports and respects the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights, and that it is not complicit in human rights abuses?

The Business & Human Rights Accelerator is a six-month programme activating companies participating in the UN Global Compact across industries and regions. The objective is to help businesses swiftly move from commitment to action on human rights and labour rights through establishing an ongoing human rights due diligence process.

What you will learn:

• How to identify your responsibilities in respecting human rights and labour rights, expressed in the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
• How to establish an ongoing human rights due diligence process in line with international standards
• How to prepare organizations for evolving human rights due diligence legislation that is aligned with international standards
• How to report and communicate on your human rights due diligence outcomes, including through the Communication on Progress, the annual public disclosure requirement for all UN Global Compact participants
• How to connect human rights and the human rights due diligence process with social sustainability initiatives

What you will gain:

• An understanding of where your company is on their human rights journey
• An assessment of actual and potential adverse human rights impacts and the ability to prioritize action
• The knowledge about steps to take to mitigate your human rights impacts, including grievance mechanisms and remedy
• Ways to effectively engage stakeholders on operational impacts on people
• An action plan to advance human rights in your company and beyond
• A network of peers, UN partners and experts to support your human rights journey and work collectively to tackle persistent barriers to human rights due diligence.
• A certificate demonstrating completion of programme

Eligibility

To take part in the Business & Human Rights Accelerator, companies are required to be participants of the UN Global Compact or willing to join. Your company should also be:

• Currently engaged with a Global Compact Country Network in your region or willing to join
• Willing to identify its human rights risks and impacts and scope a core area of your value chain for further focus
• Committed to developing an Action Plan to help address the human rights risks identified and prioritized
• Able to appoint two working-level representatives to attend sessions and participate in Accelerator activities and an additional executive-level representative to follow programme developments, provide support and participate in high-level events
• Commit to completing the programme and embedding the learnings across the company strategy and operations

How to Apply

Please fill out the following form with information on your company and its nominated representatives for the programme. These representatives may be changed at a later date. Applications close on December 19, 2025. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible as space is limited.

Apply now

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Tags Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Others