The concept of human rights protection by businesses was virtually nonexistent in Georgia before the 2016 Human Rights Action Plan. A year later, EWMI ACCESS supported CiDA to conduct a national baseline assessment on business and human rights in the country. This document had served as a basis for the 2018-2020 Human Rights Action Plan, which envisioned development of a manual for state-owned enterprises to protect and respect human rights within their organizations.
This pioneering manual finally saw the light of day this year thanks to EWMI ACCESS support and the contribution of UN Global Compact Network-Georgia.
The document is organized into two parts. The first part offers a comprehensive review of Georgia’s legislative framework, practices, and challenges in protecting human rights in state-owned, municipal, and other publicly-owned companies. On the other hand, the second part consists of practical guidelines for companies to introduce specific mechanisms aiming to ensure human rights protection while doing business.
The manual applies to privately-owned companies as well, given that it is based on established international standards on the same topic.
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