Economic empowerment is for everyone: three takeaways from the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights 

No matter our walks of life, most people want similar things: accessing opportunities to build stable lives for themselves and their loved ones, and the possibility to fully participate in their communities.  

Economic inclusion is a fundamental principle that can help us all move closer to our goals. Since 2012, the United Nations have provided a space for governments, international organisations, business, civil society, trade unions, communities, lawyers, and academia to come together and discuss how to get there: the United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights.

The 14th edition of the Forum has just concluded in Geneva, Switzerland, and LGBTI voices were present like never before. And rightfully so: this is a time when reactionary governments choose to weaponise their duty not to discriminate against entire communities that they have historically marginalised.  

But we all know better on our path to shared prosperity: with our seat at the table, LGBTI people continue to join civil society movements and all those who make the case for equality — a value that both guides us and, as experts know very well, also makes for better economic outcomes. 

ILGA World —with coordination led by its UN Specialist, Guillermo Ricalde— successfully brought activists from Kenya, the Philippines, and Nepal to participate in the Forum. We also brought together business, trade unions, and human rights experts in two side events, and participants repeatedly quoted our work and data throughout the forum. 

Here are our three main takeaways from this year’s United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights. 

Panellists of the Opening Session of the Forum pose on the stage of the Assembly Hall at the Palais de Nations in Geneva, Switzerland

Movements for racial justice, gender equality and disability rights have inspired inclusive business practices, and anti-discrimination laws, policies, and initiatives in many jurisdictions.  

Thanks to these developments, everyone — including women, LGBTI people, persons with disabilities, and racialised people — has enjoyed more inclusive, accessible, diverse, and representative workplaces. 

By dedicating the opening session of the Forum to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and including both Indigenous and LGBTI voices in the closing plenary, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights has made a clear statement, inviting States and all institutions to recommit to the anti-discrimination principles that ground the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the everyday experiences of countless people around the world. 

“One of the most effective strategies for us has been documenting real cases of workplace discrimination and translating these into policy recommendations, because data anchored in lived realities is difficult to dismiss,” said Mujer LGBT Executive Director Toni Gee Fernandez during the opening plenary, discussing how grassroots organisations are responding to the current backlash. 

Mujer LGBT has recently worked with ILGA World in a report on economic empowerment and diversity and inclusion of LGBTI people in business in the Philippines, and we were proud to support their director’s participation in such a relevant global forum. 

Fifty years ago, when LGBTI movements started to connect across borders, the visibility and achievements that our communities have obtained seemed unthinkable. 

And yet, despite the violent backlash we are facing, our lives are now front and centre in the global human rights dialogue, alongside other, more long-standing civil society movements. 

Beyond the opening and closing sessions, we made sure that LGBTI people’s experiences could be heard throughout the UN Forum for Business and Human Rights and addressed within the context of meaningful economic empowerment for all. 

Together with Open For Business and co-sponsored by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and the SOGI Group of Friends, we brought together diplomats and LGBTI activists from the Philippines and Kenya to address civil society and business strategies towards better economic inclusion for our communities. 

Ambassador Francisca E. Méndez Escobar, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations, delivered the opening remarks, emphasising the importance of keeping LGBTI people and other marginalised communities at the centre of every discussion on business inclusion. 

Fernanda Hopenhaym, a member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, also addressed the audience, sharing key findings from one of the Group’s most recent thematic reports: Protecting and respecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons in the context of business activities.

Ambassador Francisca E. Méndez Escobar, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations, delivering the opening remarks at ILGA World’s side event in Room XV at the Palais de Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Bringing concrete examples of practices from our grassroots organisations, PEMA Kenya Executive Director Ishmael Bahati and Mujer LGBT Executive Director Toni Gee Fernandez raised the voices of their communities, narrating challenges to access entrepreneurship and decent work and sharing best practices forward. 

In particular, PEMA Kenya has strongly focused on the intersection between economic empowerment of grassroots communities and their resistance to the climate emergency. This meant engaging employers and land owners in dialogues, sharing skills with community members, and organising waste management, eco-friendly and solar-powered activities. 

Once again, examples from the ground show us that all struggles are interconnected, and that we are in this together! 

In a first for the Forum, a side event looked at the role of trade unions in advancing the protection and respect of the rights of LGBTI persons in business activities. Convened by ILGA World and the Council of Global Unions’ LGBTI Coordinating Committee, the event brought together trade unions, civil society organisations, and businesses.  

Restrictive labour laws, anti-union practices by employers and governments, and the broader criminalisation or stigmatisation of LGBTI people still pose significant barriers in organising and representing LGBTI workers. Manisha Dhakal, Executive Director of Blue Diamond Society (BDS), Nepal’s pioneering LGBTIQA+ rights organisation, highlighted during her intervention that LGBTI people in Nepal continue to face discrimination based on gender expression and gender stereotyping. 

“There are major knowledge gaps. Political parties and institutions, including labour unions, don’t even know the terminology of the LGBTI spectrum or the issues the community is facing.” Jeffrey D. Boyd, National Executive Director of the American Guild of Musical Artists and Co-Chair of the Council of Global Unions (CGU) LGBTI Coordinating Committee, also explained that although trade unions have been slow to include trans workers and to broaden their focus toward LGBTI communities, progress is being made. 

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A group of diverse people sitting at a panel organised by ILGA World in front of the reception of building H at the Palais de Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. 

But unions and LGBTI people also face a common, bigger battle: the one against restrictions to freedom of association. In the world, at least 61 UN member States have laws restricting the ability of civil society organisations working on sexual, gender and bodily diversity issues to formally register and operate. Workers and unions face similar struggles, too: earlier this year, the International Trade Union Confederation revealed a sharp escalation in violations of fundamental rights — including access to justice, the right to free speech and assembly, and the right to collective bargaining.

Our struggles intertwine. Unions help LGBTI workers speak up, organise, and win real change. And when LGBTI people are protected at work, everyone gains safer, fairer workplaces.

Together, we make our movements stronger!

Organisers and panellists of the side event pose with a banner of the Global Unions LGBTI workers in front of the reception of building H at the Palais de Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

The 14th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights highlighted both the progress made and the work still ahead. Almost fifteen years after the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, there is broad agreement that businesses have a duty to respect human rights. The debate now centres not on whether they should act, but on how they will do it — and how urgently. 

We all must go beyond pledges and take concrete, systemic action to ensure people can exercise their rights, rather than rely on voluntary or symbolic measures by those bearing power. 

Lasting change will depend on involving those most affected — LGBTI people, workers, indigenous peoples, and all marginalised groups — in shaping decisions, assessing risks, and creating policies.

Meaningful inclusion and equity are the only way forward to counter inequalities and build fairer societies for everyone.