A/HRC/38/49 combination of measures, including effective regulation. Several recent regulatory and policy developments by States beyond national action plans were highlighted: • Laws with broad human rights due diligence provisions for companies of a certain size (the “duty of vigilance” law in France) • Laws geared towards improving transparency with regard to how companies address specific human rights risks (Modern Slavery Act in the United Kingdom, and forthcoming modern slavery act in Australia; forthcoming due diligence requirements with regard to child labour in the Netherlands) • Policies aimed at addressing the impact on human rights in specific sectors (ministerial directive on expected conduct of business enterprises in the fisheries sector with regard to human rights and fighting forced labour and trafficking in Indonesia) • Policies to strengthen corporate reporting on social risks and human rights due diligence in supply chains and foreign direct investments through industry initiatives (China) • Facilitating multi-stakeholder sector-based platforms for identifying and addressing human rights risks (sector agreements in the Netherlands; sector dialogues in Germany) or issue-specific multi-stakeholder processes (such as human trafficking and the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, co-chaired by Australia and Indonesia) • Warnings of introduction of mandatory human rights due diligence if companies fail to take necessary action voluntarily (Germany) B. Corporate respect for human rights in practice 62. Discussions held during the Forum touched on different aspects of how companies were implementing the second pillar of the Guiding Principles (the corporate responsibility to respect) and what was needed to bring about faster change. Participants concluded that: (a) Effective change is about addressing problems faced, learning from them and improving for the future; (b) Business and human rights is an issue that should not be confined to the sustainability or compliance department, but addressed throughout the organization to ensure coherence between all business operations; (c) There is a need for internal training to sensitize the organization; (d) Suppliers should be closely monitored to ensure that they comply with their commitments to codes of conduct; mutual, ongoing engagement with suppliers is one possible way for their successful implementation; (e) Leadership and company culture are essential in initiating and executing respect for human rights; (f) It is a continuous journey of learning, where the connection between business and human rights needs to be “demystified” and explained in a way that everyone in the business and value chain can understand. 63. Time was allocated in discussions to reflect on progress made in recent years and to explore emerging trends and developments. Speakers from different backgrounds recognized that some progress had been made in, inter alia, regulatory frameworks (particularly with regard to the issue of modern slavery and to transparency). Major challenges nonetheless remained in the implementation of the Guiding Principles: (a) There is still little concrete commitment from businesses to respect human rights beyond a relatively small group of global corporations; (b) Even companies that have adopted policy commitments in line with the Guiding Principles demonstrated gaps in operationalization at the local level; 15