The social compliance world is mourning the passing of John Ruggie, who led the development of the UN Guiding Principles of Business and Human Rights. The Guiding Principles launched ten years ago and fundamentally enhanced the way many view the social compliance industry.
“Mr. Ruggie and his contributions have left an indelible mark and will be missed but never forgotten,” says Rona Starr, president and CEO of APSCA.
Ruggie was the Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and an affiliated professor in International Legal Studies at Harvard Law.
Trained as a political scientist, he made significant intellectual contributions to the study of international relations, focusing on the impact of economic and other forms of globalization on global rulemaking.
From 1997-2001, Ruggie served as United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning, a post created specifically for him by then Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His areas of responsibility included assisting the Secretary-General in establishing and overseeing the UN Global Compact, now the world’s largest corporate citizenship initiative, and proposing and gaining General Assembly approval for the Millennium Development Goals. Ruggie broadly contributed to the effort on institutional reform and renewal for which Annan and the United Nations were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. In 2005, Annan appointed Ruggie as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, tasked with proposing measures to strengthen the human rights performance of the global business sector. In June 2011, the UN Human Rights Council, in an unprecedented step, unanimously endorsed the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” that Ruggie and his team developed through extensive consultations, pilot projects and research. Core elements of the Guiding Principles have been adopted by other international standard-setting bodies, national governments, businesses and more. John Ruggie will be missed; however through his efforts, there are many who will continue his work long into the future. |
