A/HRC/44/56 C. Role of the investment community in driving more and better human rights due diligence 63. The Working Group highlighted the importance of strengthening dialogue among investors, companies and Governments, recalling the key role of institutional investors in implementing the Guiding Principles and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. 64. At a session led by the Investor Alliance for Human Rights, the question of how Governments could drive human rights due diligence by investors was raised. Participants highlighted that investors, like all business actors, were expected to have human rights policies and due diligence systems in place to identify actual and potential risks, sought to prevent and mitigate adverse impacts, were transparent about risks and how they were addressed and played a role in enabling access to remedy when their investments were directly linked to human rights abuses. 65. One session was dedicated to discussing how government action and public-private partnerships could work to end modern slavery and human trafficking through responsible investment. The Liechtenstein Initiative for a Financial Sector Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking and its final report, Unlocking Potential: A Blueprint for Mobilizing Finance against Slavery and Trafficking, were presented.20 The Working Group emphasized the importance for any such initiative in the financial sector to be supported through a number of policy and regulatory tools, including to increase transparency and promote the development of competition law and public procurement regulation in line with guidelines and effective remedy mechanisms. V. Issues in focus 66. Several sessions focused on issues that had become standing items or that had been identified by the Working Group as emerging or systemic issues on the business and human rights agenda. A. Groups at risk 67. A number of sessions addressed the challenges faced by individuals and groups at heightened risk of abuse, as well as effective practices for protecting them. 68. One session focused on the report of the Working Group on the gender dimensions of the Guiding Principles. In follow-up to the discussions held during the seventh session of the Forum, participants raised issues faced by women and girls in the world of work, including violence, sexual and other forms of harassment, inequality, health inequality at work, underrepresentation in positions of leadership and political participation, discrimination, exploitation and abuse in global supply chains and overrepresentation in informal, part-time and casual work. Representatives from different stakeholder groups identified capacity-building through training to employees and employers among the potential solutions. The implementation of flexible maternity leave and childcare support, and greater attention to gender dimensions in the context of access to remedy, were also mentioned. 69. Indigenous peoples’ representatives from all regions shared examples of how business activities had had an adverse impact on their communities. They also emphasized that Governments and businesses had an important role to play in preserving the biocultural diversity of the heritage of indigenous peoples. Some representatives expressed concern about the negative effects of natural resource exploitation, including in the mining and hydroelectric dam construction sectors, on their fundamental rights. They called for recognition of the fundamental rights of indigenous people, which included the right to define their own economic development model. They expressed the need for the international definition of free, prior and informed consent to be adapted to individual 20 14 See www.fastinitiative.org/.

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