A year in review: spreading the word on Global #LGBTI Standards for Business
In 2018, an additional 172 companies have expressed support for the United Nations Global #LGBTI business standards which were launched in September 2017 reaching a total of 222 of the world’s largest companies. Companies such as ABN Amro, Alcon, Aetna, AT Kearney, Avon, Bayer, Best Buy, Biogen, BNP Paribas, Clifford Chance, Deloitte, Diageo, Fujitsu, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Hyatt, GSK, Kellogg, L’Oréal, Maersk, Nokia, RBS, Société Générale, Telefonica, Tesco, Thyssen Krupp, UBS, Xerox and many others expressed publicly their support in press releases and social media postings calling unprecedented attention to the initiative. The office also reached out to about 200 other businesses which are at various stages of considering expressing support while 25 companies expressly declined to express support for various reasons.
The UN Human Rights Office also translated and presented the Standards in six new languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Korean, Japanese and Serbian.
The Office organized local launch events in 7 new locations throughout the world reaching a total of 16 launch events: (in addition to 2017 events in New York, Mumbai, Paris, London, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Washington DC, Geneva and Melbourne launch events) in Nairobi, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Pretoria, Madrid, Belgrade and Milan.
During the year, the Office also participated in more than 20 panels and local events around the world promoting the business standards and highlighting the crucial role of the private sector such as the World Economic Forum in Davos, at the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York, at RightsCon in Toronto, at the International Gay and Lesbian Tourism Association (IGLTA) Conference in Toronto, at the Munk School of Public Affairs on the occasion of IDAHOT, at the Economist Pride & Prejudice Conference in NYC, in various settings in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the Association of Travel Agents Global Convention in Washington, DC, at Out in Tech in NYC and DC, during the UNA-USA Global Engagement Summit annual event, at the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) luncheon in Seattle, with the Scandinavian LGBT Chamber of Commerce (SGLCC) in NYC, the Annual Conference of the Cámara de Comerciantes LGBT de Colombia in Bogota, at the European Stability Mechanism with the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg, the Women’s Forum Global Meeting in Paris, the UN Human Rights and Business Forum in Geneva, on Broadway at “The Prom” post-show discussion in NYC, the Victory Institute Global LGBTQ Leaders Conference in DC.
It published four articles on the Standards in the Cambridge Business and Human Rights Journal, the Economist, the WEF Agenda blog, and the Huffington Post.
The Office also held five webinars with Out & Equal in March, the Human Rights Conference of the Bucharest Pride, with civil society activists on WebEx on August 28, 2018, with BSR members in March 2018 and with the U.S. Council for International Business on October 8, 2018.
Finally, the office recorded five online interviews to raise awareness of the Standards at Open Finance in NYC on the occasion of IDAHOT, at Nasdaq for “Behind the Bell”, with the Italian Global Compact Network, with Radio Free Qtopia in Australia and the UNA USA NNJ Building a Better World Podcast.
The 222 companies that expressed support for the Standards are: ABN Amro, The Adecco Group, Accenture, Accor Hotels Group, Adidas, Aetna, AirBNB, Airbus, Air Canada, Amadeus, Amalgamated Bank, American Airlines, Anglo-American, ANZ, Aon plc, A.P. Moller — Maersk, Argos, Atos, A.T. Kearney, AT&T, Avianca, Aviva, Avon, AXA, Baker McKenzie, Banca Comunicacao, Banco do Brasil, Barclays, Barilla, Bayer, BASF, BCLP (Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner), The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), BDMG — Banco de Desenvolvimento de Minas Gerais, Ben & Jerry, Best Buy, Biogen, Bloomberg L.P., BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Braskem, Brewin Dolphin, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Burberry, Café Brisa Serena, Calvin Klein, The Carlyle Group, Cervejaria Ambev, Cisco Systems Inc., Clifford Chance LLP, Cobasi, ClubMed, The Coca-Cola Company, Credit Suisse, Daimler, De Beers, Deloitte, Demarest Advogados, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Post DHL Group, Diageo, Dili Ashtanga Yoga, Dilicious, Dow Chemicals, Eataly, Ebay, EDF, Erste Bank, EY, Exelon, Fidelity International, Fotos Publicas, Foozoo Travel Sri Lanka, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Fujitsu, Generation Investment, The Gap, GlaxoSmithKline, Godrej Industries, Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, Google, Greenberg Traurig LLP, Grupo Sa Engenharia, Gucci, Habitat, H&M, Hemofarm, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, Hermes Investment Management, Hilton, Hogan Lovells LLP, HP, Hyatt, IGH, IKEA Group, Inditex, Infosys, ING, Intel, Ipsos, Itau Unibanco, JLL, Johnson & Johnson, JWT, Kellogg, Kenneth Cole Production, KPMG, The Lalit Hotels, Lee/Brock/Camargo Advogados (LBCA), Levi Strauss & Co, Lloyd’s of London, Lloyds Banking Group, L’Oreal, Lufthansa, Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, Manpower Group, Maria Farinha Filmes, Marks & Spencer, Marsh, MAS Holdings, Marriott International, Marui group, Mastercard, Mattos Filhos, Mazars, Metro AG, Microsoft, McCann, McKinsey, MCV Advogados, Merck Group, Molson Coors, Monsanto, Moom, Nasdaq, Natura, Nestle, Netflix, New York Life, Nielsen, Nike, Nokia, Novartis, Oath, Panda Criativo, Ogilvy, Oliver Wyman, One Magical Week-End, Orange, Ørsted A/S, OutLoud Strategies, Paul Weiss, Paramount, PepsiCo, Pfizer, PIMCO, Pinheiro Neto, Pinsent Masons LLP, Pixelasia Productions Dili, The Phluid Project, Ponto Link, Procter & Gamble, Publicis, PVH, PWC, Ralph Lauren Corp, RELX Group, RBS, Robert Bosch GmBH, Royal Dutch Shell , Safilo Group S.p.A., Salesforce, Sainsbury’s, Santana, Santander Group, SAP, Siemens, Simmons & Simmons, Schneider Electric SE, Slack, Smirnoff, SNC-Lavalin, Société Générale, Sodexo, Sonders and Beach Group, Spotify, [SS*X BBOX], Stanley Black & Decker, Suit Supply, Swiss RE, Syngenta, Telefonica, Teleperformance Philippines, Tesco, Teva, The North Face, Thomson Reuters, Thyssen Krupp, Timor-Leste Coral Triangle Heritage Alliance, Tommy Hilfiger, Trench/Rossi e Watanabe Advogados, Trillium Asset Management, Twitter, Uber, UBS, Um.a, Under Armour, UniCredit, Unilever, Vector, Veirano Advogados, Veolia, Vert Asset Management, VF Corporation, Viacom, Virgin, Vodafone, Westpac, Williams-Sonoma Inc, Xerox and Zara