Recommendations for the Upcoming Portuguese National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights

On the 15th of May, Claire Bright and Sara Pacheco presented their report with recommendations to the Portuguese Government for the Portuguese National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights as part of the ‘Policy Roundtable on the proposed EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive’ organised by the NOVA Centre on Business, Human Rights and the Environment, Instituto Marquês de Valle Flôr, and Oxfam at Centro Cultural de Belém. The Policy Roundtable featured interventions by Heidi Hautala, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Bärbel Kofler, Parliamentary Secretary of State of the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, Maria Manuel Leitão Marques, Portuguese MEP from the S&D group, and Dominique Potier, Member of the French Parliament, as well as representatives from the private sector, civil society, academia and youth ambassadors.

The report on the Portuguese NAP on Business and Human Rights was drafted jointly by the students of the ELSA association and Claire Bright and Laura Iñigo Álvarez and the NOVA BHRE. The report aims to provide support to the Portuguese Government for the drafting of the Portuguese NAP on Business and Human Rights, by setting out concrete recommendations in relation to both its structure and substance. The methodology used in that respect relies on desk-based research and a comparative analysis of existing National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights as well as a study of relevant soft law instruments, standards, guidance, policies, and laws at the international, European, and national levels.

The main recommendations set out in the report are outlined in the executive summary prepared by Professor Claire Bright Sara Rentroia Pacheco with the support of IMVF – Instituto Marquês de Valle Flôr in the context of the campaign #GoEAThical – #OurFoodOurFuture, implemented in Portugal by IMVF and co-funded by the European Union and supported by Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I.P.

The executive summary is available in English and in Portuguese and the full version of the report is available in English.