B-Tech Project

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B-Tech Project

An intensifying global momentum around digital technology innovations has sparked key debates on what constitutes responsible business conduct in the technology sector. 

B-Tech has produced research, guidance, tools and resources, demonstrating how the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) can guide more effective understanding, mitigations and governance of the risks of digital technologies. The thematic initiatives focus on the intersection of cross-cutting themes. They elaborate upon the interplay and effects of technology and human rights on each other.

Foundational Workstreams

State Duty to Protect: Tech regulation and policy (Pillar 1 UNGPs)

This section focusses on international, regional, national and other-multistakeholder regulatory and policy frameworks that help govern state and company practice. It also includes various resources including guidance and tools for a myriad of state and non-state policy stakeholders to help them in governance of digital technologies in line with the UNGPs.

Tech company responsibilities and human rights due diligence (Pillar 2 UNGPs)

Business respect for human rights is about preventing harms to people that are connected to business activities, with particular attention paid to those people who may be most seriously impacted. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) set out a principled approach for all companies to do this. For technology companies, this includes anticipating and mitigating harms that might occur related to the use of their products and services. Companies that take their commitment to respect human rights seriously will need to improve product design, pursue new research avenues, interrogate business models and collaborate with peers, governments and civil society.

Access to remedy in tech (Pillar 3 UNGPs)

Establishing a robust and comprehensive system of remedies for human rights harms will require the same focus, determination, investment and ingenuity that drive technological innovation today. Responsible technology companies recognize both the commercial and ethical urgency of this task. Not only does the non-availability of remedies risk undermining their social license to operate (which can have significant commercial and legal consequences, both in the short and long term), it is the right thing to do. Placing human rights imperatives at the heart of remediation mechanisms, processes and strategies is a vital part of working towards a future in which technologies are better aligned with principles and values that allow all human beings to thrive.

Stakeholder engagement (Cross-cutting)

B-Tech provides recommendations for better business practice and collaborations among all stakeholders to enhance the role that affected stakeholders play in design, development, deployment and use of digital technologies. The workstream focuses on meaningful participation by various stakeholders, all dedicated to improving the process through diverse perspectives.

Rights-holder-based workstreams

Gender, digital tech and the role of business

The workstream on gender, digital tech and the role of business is building upon the momentum generated by the Commission on the Status of Women’s 67th session, for which the priority theme was “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”. The B-Tech Project organizes a series of multistakeholder consultations which will feed into the development of a B-Tech briefing paper providing guidance on gender and digital tech from a business and human rights perspective.

Digital technologies, businesses and children’s rights

To look at the impact of digital technologies on children’s rights, the B-Tech project has been partnering with UNICEF on the development of a briefing paper on children’s rights in the digital environment.  It complements the series of foundational papers published by the B-Tech project to frame policy, practice or regulatory efforts, both by States and companies, to prevent and address human rights risks related to digital technologies in line with the UNGPs. The paper, drawing on a robust background of evidence and guidance and informed by input received following a consultation process on a draft version outlines key elements for implementing the UNGPs across all three pillars. While not exhaustive, it offers an introduction to core child rights concepts for advancing business and human rights in the context of digital activities that may directly or indirectly impact children.

The paper is titled “Taking a Child-Rights Based Approach to Implementing the UNGPs in the Digital Environment: A contribution to the B-tech Project”.

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