Human rights & business
National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP)
Definition
A national action plan on business and human rights is a policy document in which a government articulates the priorities and actions it will adopt to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs, endorsed 2011). The UN Human Rights Council called on all states to develop such plans in 2014; around 30 countries have adopted one, with more in development, tracked by the Danish Institute for Human Rights.
References
definition, UNGP link, global tracking
2014 HRC call, ~30 countries, best-practice content
Overview
What it means
Good NAPs combine a "smart mix" of mandatory and voluntary measures — human rights due diligence rules, public procurement conditions, state-owned enterprise responsibilities, remedy access — developed through inclusive stakeholder processes and made specific and measurable.
How it is used
NAPs coordinate ministries, signal expectations to business, and give civil society a benchmark for accountability; they complement (and increasingly feed into) binding due diligence legislation.
Why it matters
NAPs are the main vehicle translating the global business-and-human-rights framework into national practice — the governance layer beneath corporate supply-chain responsibility.