2.1 A Vision for Industry 4.0 in Ireland

The other highlight of 2021 will be the UN Food Systems Summit, planned for September. Ireland was one of the first countries to provide financial support to the Summit in 2020, and we have been playing an active role in the preparatory work, with an explicit focus on the hunger action track.

During 2020, Ireland also delivered 160 statements at UN meetings on Human Rights including at the Human Rights Council, at the UN General Assembly Third Committee, and at contributions to Universal Periodic Reviews.

As Ireland strives to double our global footprint by expanding physical presences overseas, and diversifying trade into new markets, we will continue to be cognisant of our duty to uphold in our work abroad, the rights which we enjoy at home. Ireland’s National Plan on Business and Human Rights 2017-2020 was introduced to give effect to aspects of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), which were unanimously adopted at the Human Rights Council in 2011.

In parallel, the Government has been responding to the recommendations of the National Task Team for Rural Africa, which sees a stronger emphasis on food systems in our domestic agriculture sector, as well as our international engagement. Ongoing partnerships in this area, including the Africa Agribusiness Development Programme, and support to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will feed into Ireland’s engagement in the Summit. Ireland will assume a seat on the Executive Board of IFAD in 2021.

The National Plan contains a series of commitments under the headings of: policy coherence across government; the State Duty to Protect Human Rights; the Corporate Duty to Protect Human Rights; and Access to Remedy (the latter three reflecting the pillars of the UNGPs).

A roadmap was agreed at the beginning of 2021 to guide the implementation of the remaining commitments under the SIDS Strategy and to ensure a coordinated approach to political engagement with SIDS for 2021-2022. Key commitments which will be progressed this year include the appointment of a permanent network of envoys to the SIDS and the holding of a series of policy dialogues with SIDS to share experiences in areas such as Diaspora engagement.

The Implementation Group for the National Plan on Business and Human Rights met regularly in 2020 and advanced a number of recommendations under the National Plan for Business and Human Rights, including commissioning an independent review of access to remedy for potential victims overseas of human rights abuses by Irish companies.

Other major priorities in 2021 will include addressing the education crisis unfolding from COVID-19, especially as it relates to adolescent girls, responding to rapidly increasing global humanitarian need, and strengthening key partnerships in Africa, particularly in the Sahel.

Outlook for 2021

A toolkit for on business and human rights for public and private entities to assist them in their human rights due diligence will be published.

Human Rights

An interim review of the implementation of commitments under the National Plan on Business and Human Rights will be completed in advance of a multi-stakeholder forum in H1, 2021.

Ireland continues to prioritise human rights at every opportunity, promoting core human rights issues including gender equality, the rights of LGBTQIA+ persons and the civil society space/ human rights defenders. In December 2020, the Government inaugurated a memorial monument to commemorate the lives of human rights defenders around the world who have been killed because of their peaceful work defending the rights of others.

Work on the next iteration of the National Plan will begin in H2, 2021.