Tuesday, September 16, 2025
10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m. (ICT)
Session 214

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Turning Law into Justice: Leveraging Due Diligence for Worker Remedy

Background and Rationale:

As the Asia region moves towards the creation of new corporate accountability legal instruments and explores corporate mandatory due diligence measures, there is an opportunity to take stock of how these could practically support supply chain workers to achieve remedy for rights violations.

Drawing on casework by the independent monitoring organisation, Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) and its partners, this practical workshop will examine how innovative accountability strategies in contexts of lax labor law enforcement have not only delivered justice in cases of severe rights violations but have also contributed to scaling the impact of remedy, strengthened institutions, and pushed back against shrinking civic space. This approach has enabled the WRC to recover over $150 million for workers in unpaid wage and severance dues alone.

The practical benefit of new laws for workers depends on the strength of such laws and the ability for such laws to be enforced, and much can be learned from decades of work in the apparel sector that has focused on utilising national legislation and corporate due diligence commitments.

In this interactive workshop, participants will learn from apparel sector case studies and be guided in reflecting on opportunities and challenges in their own sectors and countries of focus in relation to how to leverage existing corporate commitments, national legislation, and due diligence requirements. Participants will also identify elements necessary for inclusion in forthcoming corporate accountability policies to help ensure those will be effective at uncovering violations, protecting workers, and remedying abuses.

Key Objectives

Participants will gain:

• Insights into how to utilise existing laws, what the gaps are in ensuring remedy for rights violations, and a concrete understanding of how these gaps could be filled through new human rights due diligence laws
• A clear understanding of how to apply practical advocacy tools to ensure enforcement and adherence with legal instruments that enable worker-focused remedy for rights violations
• Replicable case studies for engaging companies by leveraging national-level labour laws in Asia that have been effectively used to secure remedy and strengthen corporate accountability in unprecedented ways

Guiding Questions

• What must future human rights due diligence laws in Asia include to ensure they are a practical pathway for remediating labour rights abuses (that goes beyond existing legal instruments)?
• What can be achieved to secure remedy for workers utilising existing laws in the Asia region?
• What kinds of advocacy strategies can be effective to support remedy through corporate accountability legislation?

Format:

Workshop (90 minutes)

Partners:

The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) is a nonprofit monitoring organization established in 2000 dedicated to building worker power in global supply chains. We believe that regulating corporate power and enforcing labor protections, together create an enabling environment for fundamental rights to be freely asserted.

We address the imbalance of power in supply chains by ensuring that workers always win when they hold corporations to account for their labor conditions. By exposing the gap between what corporations say and do, we drive structural shifts in corporate conduct and regulation, advancing the rule of law and labor rights around the world.

About the Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum

The 2025 UN Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum will convene stakeholders from across Asia and the Pacific to advance business and human rights in a time of compounding crises. Under the theme “Anchoring Progress and Strengthening Regional Leadership on Human Rights through Crisis,” the Forum will focus on accelerating implementation of BHR standards, strengthening cross-border cooperation, and centering rights-holder leadership.

Sessions will be organized around four thematic tracks: Policy Coherence and Regulatory Evolution; Markets, Finance and Supply Chains; Inclusion, Protection and Participation; and Sustainability and Transitions. With an emphasis on peer learning and practical solutions, the Forum will create space for governments, businesses, NHRIs, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, and others to share tools, align on priorities, and shape responses grounded in regional realities.

The Forum is co-organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights (UNWG).

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