The explosion of global business and human rights continued to resonate across the globe in 2022. Some of the business and human rights trends have been evident and growing for several years; others are relatively new. Many are present in familiar jurisdictions; new locales increasingly see business and human rights regulation and litigation creeping across their borders.
The dynamic rise of business and human rights, both as a distinct field and as part of other areas of international regulatory compliance—such as AML, sanctions, export controls and trade—makes it difficult to identify only 10 areas of focus for 2023. Indeed, many issues that did not make our list—from public procurement laws and regulations that integrate human rights, to the continued recognition of gig and contract workers as employees with a right to a variety of benefits, to transition minerals—were prominent in 2022 and will be in 2023. In recognition of Human Rights Day (and just in time as a holiday stocking stuffer or emergency eighth night gift), and despite the challenge of winnowing our list to just 10 topics, as in years past we offer our top-10 human rights issues for 2023. The list below includes some old and some new, and is in no particular order.
