When I started my career in BP more than forty years ago, ‘human rights’ was something that seemed to apply only to states and governments...But the world has changed a lot since then. BP’s story is illustrative. Thirty years ago the company’s main operations were in the US and the UK...Three years ago, when I left BP, it was operating all over the world, developing oil and gas reserves in much less well developed countries. We operated on every continent – in Colombia, in Azerbaijan, in Angola and in Indonesia. We were like hundreds of other businesses, stretching out into new territories in search of new materials, new markets and new opportunities...What was unclear however was the huge impact that businesses would have on people in nations lacking a traditional commitment to human rights and without strong governance. Businesses were, to some extent, making up the rules as they went along. There were – in Professor Ruggie’s apt phrase – “governance gaps” between what businesses were doing on the ground and the rules designed to uphold human rights. Those gaps still exist today.