There were a number of side events, fringe meetings and parallel events to the 10th International Conference of National Human Rights Institutions.

Thursday 7 Ocotober

​NGO Forum
The conference was preceded by the Non Governmental Organisations Forum (NGO Forum).

Campaigners, activists, charities and voluntary sector organisations took part in the event, including representatives from countries including Korea, Morocco, Bolivia, Switzerland, India and Denmark. The Forum was organised by a Steering Group which included the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights, the Scottish Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Consortium Scotland (a network of civil society organisations in Scotland).

The NGO Forum gave NGOs an opportunity to share experiences regarding business and human rights, including the role of NHRIs. The results of the Forum were shared with the main conference.

• You can read the NGO Forum Statement in Word format.

• Watch video of the participants, including interviews with Emmanuel Umpula Nkumba, Action Contre I’lmpunite pour les Drotis Humains (ACIDH), Bhanumathi Kalluri, of the Dhaatri Resource Centre for Women and Secretariat of International Women and Mining Network, and Arnold Christopher Laisser, Integrated Program for Agro-Pastoralist Development (OLIPAD), Tanzania:

• Read the video transcript in Word format.

• The event flyer is also available in Word format.

Business Schools, the professions and human rights: making the connections
This half-day seminar brought together academic and professional communities with the Scottish Human Rights Commission, to explore how to integrate human rights into business school curricula and professional education. This pioneering event included discussion of national and international best practice. Read the event flyer in PDF format.

UN Global Compact UK Network

A "Business and Human Rights Roundtable” meeting, co-hosted by the Scottish Human Rights Commission and the UK Network of the UN Global Compact, took place at Edinburgh City Chambers. This roundtable brought together representatives from business, government, academic and voluntary sectors and explored key emerging developments in business and human rights, both internationally and here in in Scotland. The event considered the benefit of increased awareness of human rights for Scottish companies entering emerging markets in high-risk developing countries.

Read the event flyer in Word format.

Saturday 9 October

Lunchtime session - Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR)

This sessions was aimed at sharing experiences of promoting ESCR and to prompt discussion about how NHRIs attempt to influence socioeconomic policy, what aspects of ESCR do NHRIs find most challenging, and examined how new approaches and working methods could start to address these challenges.

• The report of the meeting is here in PDF format.

• The slides from the presentation are available in PDF format.

Lunchtime session - Revising the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises - What role for NHRI's?

There was a lunchtime workshop with panel contributions from Dr Roel Nieuwenkamp, Chair of the Working Party for the OECD Guidelines Review, OECD Investment Committee, Tricia Feeney, RAID (Rights and Accountability in Development), Dr Judy McGregor, EEO Commissioner, New Zealand Human Rights Commission, and Med S.K. Kaggwa, Uganda Human Rights Commission.

Read the online event flyer.