COVID19 and the Corporate Duty to Respect Human Rights: It’s time for the business community to step up

“The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has appealed for human rights to be front and centre of the coordinated international response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For tens of millions of workers across global supply chains, multiple human rights concerns are being raised by this “economic and labour market shock” to job and income security in both manufacturing and services. There have been immediate and dramatic upheavals in consumer demands and customer purchasing patterns, in the garment sector for example, and government discouragement or prevention of movement has halted much work deemed non-essential, such as tourism and hospitality.”