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We at BankTrack are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Professor John Ruggie. As the architect and author of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Prof. Ruggie’s work has been at the heart of BankTrack’s human rights campaigning, which has for the last ten years focused on advocating for banks to acknowledge their responsibility to respect human rights when conducting their business, and to fully implement the Principles he established.
We had the privilege to meet Prof. Ruggie a handful of times, from the time when the UNGPs were still being drafted to the years when we painstakingly worked for their adoption by the banking sector. We always felt his genuine support for our ongoing efforts to hold banks to account for their human rights obligations.
This was most evident in 2017 when he gave a powerful address to the conference of the Thun Group of Banks, arguing passionately against what he saw as a misconstruing of the UNGPs by the banking sector in an influential intervention that will not be forgotten by those who witnessed it.
John Ruggie leaves a legacy of tremendous impact that will continue to inspire our work. Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this time.
Tribute by Jerome Bellion-Jourdan, who led negotiations for the European Union on Business and Human Rights in the UN Human Rights Council and represented the EU in several other processes on BHR/RBC from 2010 to 2019.
Tribute by Audrey Gaughran, Executive Director, and Joseph Wilde-Ramsing, Senior Researcher, on behalf of Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen (SOMO)
Tribute to John Ruggie by Christine Bader, who was a member of "Team Ruggie" from 2006-11 and served as a Board Member for the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre from 2011–15
Tribute by David Schilling, Senior Program Director for Human Rights at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, and Anita Dorett, Director of the Investor Alliance for Human Rights
Tribute by Bennett Freeman, who served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor from 1999-2001 and as Senior Vice President, Sustainability Research and Policy at Calvert Investments from 2006-15
Tribute by Chris Avery, Chair of the Human Rights and Business Award Foundation & Former Director (2002-2013) of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Tribute by Irene Pietropaoli, Lise Smit, Claire Bright and Robert McCorquodale on behalf of the Business and Human Rights Team at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL)
Tribute by Douglas Elmendorf, Dean at Harvard Kennedy School, where John Ruggie was the Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs
Tribute to John Ruggie by BankTrack, an international tracking, campaigning and CSO support organisation targeting commercial banks and the activities they finance.
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