A/HRC/41/49 sector in contributing towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and stressed that respect for human rights must be a foundation for corporate engagement on the Goals. 12. The Chair shared the Working Group’s findings on the state of play of corporate human rights due diligence from its latest report to the General Assembly. He noted that, although human rights due diligence had increasingly been reflected in policy frameworks at the global, regional, national and corporate levels since the introduction of the Guiding Principles in 2011, most companies did not demonstrate practices that met the requirements set by the Guiding Principles and lack of government action remained a major gap. Despite slow progress overall, the good news was that due diligence in practice could be done, as demonstrated by practices emerging among “pioneers”. The Chair noted that prevention of negative impacts on people was at the core of due diligence, and also of the Working Group’s mandate. 13. The Chair reiterated that respect for human rights was possible and a major contribution towards realizing sustainable development. The challenge ahead was to speed up and scale up efforts and build on the emerging good practices and to address remaining gaps and challenges, bearing in mind that doing the right thing was also the smart thing. The Chair concluded that the need for faster progress was urgent; that was why the Forum was so important. He noted that listening to practitioners and those that were confronting the challenges was the first ingredient in creating change. 14. Kailash Satyarthi, 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, gave the keynote address, in which he called for joint action to eradicate child labour and slavery. 15. The keynote speech was followed by two panel conversations, one with a group of civil society leaders and the other with senior executives from business and the investment community. 16. The former involved prominent human rights advocates, who shared personal and inspiring stories of their struggles to call for business respect for human rights in practice. They addressed issues such as child labour, trafficking, sexual harassment, slavery and the continuous attacks on human rights defenders. Among the key messages was that businesses should not see fighting slavery, trafficking and child labour as a charitable action, but should put fighting them at the core of businesses in order to find sustainable solutions. All speakers agreed on the need to promote dialogue among different stakeholders, working collaboratively and allowing a safe space for human rights defenders to speak and to act upon business-related human rights abuses. 17. Speakers highlighted the four pillars of the 2030 Agenda (how to protect people, the planet, prosperity and peace) and stressed that in a globalized world, solutions to safeguard all the pillars had to be found through mutual coordination and cooperation and by building new innovative partnerships. The Guiding Principles provide the framework for promoting corporate respect for human rights and accountability, without which progress along all four dimensions would be meaningless. However, it was noted that implementation of the Guiding Principles at the local level needed to be strengthened significantly. The central role of the Government in the advancement of human rights was emphasized, not least in relation to addressing the alarming and growing threats to human rights defenders worldwide. It was stressed that Governments and business actors must work together with civil society organizations and human rights defenders as equals to build a sustainable and just future for all. 18. The second discussion featured, for the first time at the Forum, a panel of senior business leaders who shared their perspectives on embedding respect for human rights in company practice and the importance of human rights due diligence. The panellists discussed ways in which their companies had embedded human rights in their operations, including in the value chain, as well as challenges, success factors and lessons learned in that process. 19. The panellists discussed measures such as adapting their companies’ human rights policy to the Guiding Principles; codes of ethics, including for the supply chain; reporting and whistle-blowing systems for violations; and partnering with stakeholders, customers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Governments. Some of the challenges 5