The impact of the US National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct hinges on collecting views that cut across industry, government, academia and civil society. The Obama administration has demonstrated its commitment to collecting these views by participating in public dialogues across the country, from New York to Oklahoma, Berkeley and back to D.C.
Karen Hanrahan (Department of STate), Ariel Meyerstein (USCIB), Melike Yetken (Department of state), and eric Biel (department of labor) at the dialogue
The Center for Business and Human Rights and the United States Council for International Business hosted the first Dialogue on the National Action Plan in December. As an observer I was struck by the broad scope Ambassador Elizabeth Cousens and her colleagues asked attendees to consider throughout the afternoon. After the opening plenary, the group of 70 broke up into discussion groups to delve into the complexities of doing business abroad. The breakout sessions spanned the agriculture, extractive, manufacturing, and financial sectors. Participants came back together to summarize the considerations each group surfaced.
Tara Wadhwa is the Center's Assistant Director