Business and Human Rights

Resistance to diversity and inclusion measures in relation to the LGBTI community is not a recent phenomenon. However, over the years, such resistance has intensified in some countries as the punishment and persecution of the LGBTI community have increased through the enactment of more severe and harsher criminal laws. The criminalization of LGBTI persons and the denial of their rights has impacted not only interstate relations but has also presented a major challenge to the approach that global companies take in relation to LGBTI rights. For instance, when Uganda passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2023, companies like Google that had supported the LGBTI community considered it ‘bad for business.’ Moreover, there were suggestions that certain foreign companies would consider closing (hereinafter the business-exit approach) in Uganda in response to the Act. In this post, I examine the merits of the business-exit approach in light of the corporate responsibility to respect LGBTI rights and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). I argue that while the business-exit approach…