Delivered by Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights At Global Business School Network for Business and Human Rights Impact Community, 8th Annual Meeting Professor. Baumann-Pauly Professor Posner, Colleagues, Friends, I am pleased to be here and to exchange with you on the crucial role of business and business education at this particularly difficult time in history. The influence of business has never been more critical. From rapidly evolving digital technologies to the global economic system, to food systems or to the running of hospitals and prisons – business’s imprint is everywhere. While Governments have the primary duty to protect and promote human rights, business has a decisive impact. For example, in conflict situations, which kill and maim, deepen inequalities, and leave legacies of trauma for generations, businesses are not neutral actors. In the most extreme cases, companies that exploit rare and precious raw materials have strong links with armed groups, who push millions of people off their lands and deeper into poverty. In other cases, businesses prop up the war economy, funding military operations and undermining peace efforts. And well-meaning companies grapple with whether to continue operating amid violence and chaos, which is far from a straightforward decision. This is a reality across the world, from Libya, to Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, DRC, Myanmar, and beyond. Business also has a crucial role in the climate emergency. Fossil fuel companies are calculating the cost of disengagement and the just transition. It is untenable for the fossil fuel industry to continue on this path. It must be held accountable; and it must ensure the rapid, equitable and just transition to renewables. Fossil fuels must be phased out, starting with an end to subsidies and a ban on fossil fuel advertising. And the solutions for a just energy transition have never been cheaper or more accessible. And you are of course aware of the capacity of digital technologies to reshape societies – for good and bad. From cutting edge health technologies helping to diagnose disease, to virtual environments opening learning to those who would otherwise be excluded, AI has shown its potential to be a great equalizer. But at its most egregious, Artificial Intelligence can engineer more powerful and more dangerous weapons and enable the spread of disinformation and hatred. Bias – which we all carry, to varying degrees - is already a significant issue in AI. If left unchecked, AI systems could perpetuate bias in criminal justice, healthcare, the job market, access to housing, and banking. This exacerbates discrimination against already marginalized groups. Women are rarely considered when AI is developed and tested against male-centric models, leading to lost opportunities and lost potential, in addition to being profoundly unjust. One recent study found that 44 percent of AI systems showed gender bias, and a quarter exhibited both gender and racial bias. Disinformation campaigns on social media platforms also have significant impact on election campaigns, and on the social fabric of a nation. Colleagues, Is this the world we want? As the teachers of tomorrow’s business leaders, you are in a unique position to answer that question, because the course of our world is too important to be left to a small number of political leaders. Throughout your teaching I encourage you to think deeply about whether it is in our interest to pursue the status quo, which is exacerbating inequalities and divisions. Or rather, whether that interest isn’t better served when sustainability, equality, and justice – that is to say, human rights - are our guide. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights recognize that respecting human rights is the responsible way to do business. They provide a blueprint to help businesses navigate their operations in some of the most complex environments, ensuring that human rights guide their decision-making – and to help find the solutions that the world needs. They call for business – and investors - to conduct human rights due diligence to help them devise their own solutions to mitigate and manage risks, not to do harm, including disengagement when appropriate, and fully respect the rights of people on the ground. High risk of involvement by business in grave human rights violations and abuses requires great care and fast action. Not only is it the right thing to do; increasingly, conducting due diligence is also an obligation under domestic and regional laws. And it makes good business sense, because it helps prevent reputational damage, including boycotts and protests, and exposure to litigation. I am encouraged that, according to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, large businesses, associations, and investors, are publicly endorsing mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence. Friends, I hope that these values and principles will be learned, discussed, and debated in business school lecture halls around the world. I urge that they be integrated in your curricula as a matter of course. Because human rights are not an abstract idea or ideology. They are concrete, and they are universal. When violated, instability and destruction can result. And when respected fully, they can unleash innovation and progress. Looking back, there has been some progress in business operations when it comes to human rights. Grave abuses in the garment sector were festering in the shadows for the longest time, until courageous human rights activists shone a light on them and pushed for change - bringing about notable improvements on the ground. Nevertheless, serious concerns persist, and action is still crucial in this field. At a broader level, the entire fields of economics and finance have been dominated by men for years. The gender gap persists among the faculty and students of economics and those practicing it. But as this field opens up – albeit slowly - women are bringing in fresh ideas, drawing attention to hidden issues, and proposing innovative solutions. Thanks to the work of feminist economists, we now know about, and can address, the care and support economy and its impact on millions of women around the world. Similarly, there is strong value for a company to ensure diversity in senior management teams and boards of directors, because richer information and nuanced perspectives often lead to better decision-making. Eleanor Roosevelt famously said that human rights begin in small places, close to home—so I encourage you to think about human rights that start at home – in business schools, from your recruitment of students and faculty to your curricula. Friends, As we look ahead, you have a key role to play in nurturing future business leaders who recognize the overwhelming interest in building societies that uphold human rights. We also need brave minds to re-think power and influence: to foster leaders who understand that decisions taken today should factor in their impact on human rights and our planet, for generations down the line. Not just for one electoral cycle; and not just for the length of a CEO’s term. And we need leaders who see that respect for human rights can bring about innovation and creativity – which are precisely what we need in times of crisis. Because equality – and respect for all human rights - makes us more resilient, not less. Whereas economic exclusion and deepening inequalities are a recipe for tension and instability. Let’s take the Beyond GDP movement as an example. It calls for measuring the health of a nation not by its Gross Domestic Product but rather by how well the economy delivers on people"s rights. And it has proposed new metrics that illustrate trends in sustainability, well-being, and inequalities, to inform policy making. This fits into the broader need for a human rights economy, a key advocacy priority of my Office, in which economic and social decision-making are guided by and invest in human rights. From education to social protection, to housing, to climate and tax policy. Such economies can withstand the biggest and deepest of shocks – and that is in everybody’s interest. Colleagues, Ultimately, business benefits from equality and peace. From free, developed societies. And from a business reputation that is clean of any engagement in wrongful killings or harm to human rights. Business has a unique and undeniable role in making positive contributions – and leveraging its relationships– to turn crises around. That is leadership we can look up to. Thank you.