A/HRC/44/56 mutually reinforcing. 8 They highlighted the need for more systemic cooperation among international organizations in the promotion of the Guiding Principles and towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Further alignment at the national and regional levels was also called for in order to build coherence, reach scale and level the playing field, not only by international institutions but also by Governments. Moreover, Governments must implement their duty to protect against business-related human rights impacts, including through mandatory measures to drive human rights due diligence and speed up progress for the comprehensive realization of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. Businesses, on the other hand, must recognize that respecting human rights should be at the core of their operations. The potential role of all interested stakeholders was highlighted, namely through the creation of multi-stakeholder initiatives.9 Furthermore, speakers provided examples of ongoing joint projects that provided evidence of the potential for cooperation and collaboration, including the project on responsible business conduct in Latin America and the Caribbean, financed by the European Union and jointly implemented by ILO, OECD and OHCHR in collaboration with the Working Group.10 Another example was the recently signed partnership between OHCHR and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which aims to strengthen cooperation to protect environmental human rights defenders and avoid environmental harms. Furthermore, partnerships involving UNDP, UNEP, UNICEF, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), OHCHR, ILO, OECD, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the European Union have contributed to promoting and implementing the Guiding Principles in Asia, including by assisting Governments in developing national action plans. 21. Speakers emphasized that a more systematic collaboration at the international and regional levels had to be accompanied by greater engagement with the private sector and with States in order to protect and respect human rights effectively on the ground. They recalled that the Guiding Principles provided a framework for identifying the various stakeholders’ respective duties and responsibilities in that regard. D. Closing plenary11 22. The eighth session of the Forum concluded with the Working Group and key stakeholders sharing their views of the main takeaways. The Working Group welcomed the increased interest in the Forum, with over 3,000 registrations received, and the continuing trend of increasing participation from the private sector. It stressed the importance of bringing more businesses into the discussions so that they could better understand the importance of embedding human rights in their operations. Notwithstanding the increase in government representation, the Working Group regretted that representation from the capitals was still insufficient. Some participants emphasized that, despite some efforts by certain States to implement a smart mix of soft and hard laws, Governments in general were still not complying with their duty to protect, demonstrating insufficient political will and a lack of policy coherence, and continued not to lead by example. 23. The first statement from stakeholders was delivered by the representative of the indigenous peoples’ caucus, who called for greater respect for indigenous peoples’ rights and urged States to implement the right to free, prior and informed consent in accordance with international standards as a precondition for preventing human rights abuses and guaranteeing the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination. The representative denounced the continuing attacks against indigenous peoples legitimately defending their 8 9 10 11 6 The Chair of the OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct pointed participants’ attention to the joint OHCHR-OECD-European Union-ILO publication entitled “Responsible business: key messages from international instruments” (October 2019). Alliance 8.7, the secretariat of which is hosted by ILO, was highlighted as a multi-stakeholder initiative that promoted the achievement of the commitments made in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in respect of eliminating child labour and modern slavery. See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Business/Pages/JointProjectResponsibleBusinessConduct.aspx. See http://webtv.un.org/search/closing-plenary-forum-on-business-and-human-rights2019/6109659719001/?term=&lan=english&cat=Forum%20on%20Business%20and%20Human%20 Rights&sort=date&page=1.