Business Events: Champions for Human Rights
- new intent
- Sep 2, 2025
- 4 min read
Every event is a stage. On that stage, we choose what kind of world we want to project. Will it be one that silences voices, overlooks injustice, and prioritises profit over people? Or will it be one that recognises the dignity of every participant, gives space to voices too often excluded, and leaves communities stronger than before?
Business events already bring together decision-makers, innovators, activists, and communities. They influence economies, shape policy, and launch movements. But in today’s fractured political climate - marked by disinformation, polarisation, shrinking civic space, and widening inequality - events cannot remain neutral. They are too powerful for that.
When organisers put human rights at the heart of their work, events become more than meetings. They become catalysts for change.
Why Human Rights Belong in Business Events
At first glance, human rights might feel distant from conferences, congresses, or incentive trips. Yet every decision in event design touches them:
Who is seen and heard: programming choices decide which perspectives make it to the stage.
Who feels safe: safeguarding, security, and codes of conduct can protect or silence.
Who gets access: accessibility design determines whether disabled participants are included or excluded.
Who benefits: supply chain and procurement practices either uphold or undermine fair labour.
What is left behind: legacy planning can uplift local communities or exploit them.
For organisers, weaving human rights into events isn’t just altruism. It builds brand trust, attracts next-generation talent, strengthens delegate loyalty, and creates impact stories that resonate long after the event. In short, it makes events matter.
Stories from the Stage
Sydney WorldPride: When Inclusion Became Policy
In March 2023, Sydney’s International Convention Centre became more than a venue, it became a global platform for LGBTQIA2+ rights. The Human Rights Conference, held as part of WorldPride, gathered 1,800 delegates from 57 countries. The power of the event wasn’t in its size but in its intent: activists, policymakers, and community leaders strategised together on legal reform, protections for vulnerable groups, and cultural change.
Delegates didn’t just attend panels; they returned home with new partnerships and tangible policy pathways in place. The event showed what happens when organisers design with legacy in mind: a conference that doesn’t just report progress, but actively makes it.
Lesson for organisers: Your event can be a launchpad for policy change if you centre it on human dignity.
Decathlon in Ethiopia: Supply Chains on Display
Sporting giant Decathlon could have avoided scrutiny of its Ethiopian supply chain. Instead, it invited it in. The company worked with local suppliers to improve wages, working conditions, and gender equality. And crucially, they used industry events as the forum to showcase both their challenges and their progress.
By allowing worker voices to be heard on stage, Decathlon shifted the narrative: this was not CSR gloss, but lived accountability. Delegates didn’t just listen to promises; they witnessed real change and left with a model they could replicate.
Lesson for organisers: Transparency builds long-term trust. Your supply chain choices. and how you talk about them on stage, matter.
Vancouver 2025: Building Bridges Through Dialogue
In 2025, Vancouver hosted a landmark Human Rights and Accommodation Conference. Its design was deliberate: not just lawyers and HR professionals, but CEOs, union leaders, and policymakers in the same room. The aim? To confront emerging challenges in workplace human rights and equity.
By convening groups who rarely share space, the organisers are turning the conference into a bridge. In today’s climate of division, that act of convening itself is transformative.
Lesson for organisers: Events can create unlikely alliances. When curated with care, they become the one place where adversaries talk, listen, and find common ground.
The 5 Rs for Human Rights in Events
To ground these stories, New Intent proposes a framework for embedding human rights in business events:
Respect: uphold dignity through codes of conduct, safeguarding, and cultural sensitivity.
Reinforce: protect participants with accessibility design, fair labour practices, and safe reporting mechanisms.
Represent: put underrepresented voices on stage and in leadership.
Remedy: Implement transparent processes for addressing grievances and injustices, both during and after events.
Realise: measure legacy in human outcomes, not only economic impact.
This is a mindset, a way of designing events that shift from transactional to transformational.
The Challenges We Face
Let’s be clear: centring human rights in events isn’t easy. In today’s political climate, progress on gender equality, LGBTQIA2+ rights, racial justice and refugee rights is being rolled back in many countries. Governments are tightening restrictions on civic space. Companies face pressure from stakeholders who see human rights as “political.”
But neutrality is an illusion. Choosing not to act is itself a choice, one that reinforces the status quo.
Organisers who step into this space may encounter resistance. They may face uncomfortable questions. But they will also find allies, credibility, and momentum.
As history shows, movements need stages. And our industry controls many of them.
How Organisers Can Start
Design with intention: ask at the outset, “Whose rights are we advancing through this event?”
Partner with experts: work with NGOs, advocacy groups, or local community leaders.
Audit supply chains: ensure vendors uphold fair wages and safe conditions.
Embed accessibility: from venue to digital platforms, design for everyone.
Track and share impact: report human outcomes alongside attendance numbers.
These are not add-ons. They are the foundations of events that matter.
Where to Find Support
Organisers don’t need to do this alone. Resources and networks exist to help:
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre – for global reports and case studies.
International Labour Organisation (ILO) – for labour standards and supply chain guidance.
United Nations Global Compact – for corporate responsibility frameworks.
Disability:IN – for accessible events design.
Human Rights Watch / Amnesty International – for advocacy partnerships and issue expertise.
Engaging with these organisations brings credibility, expertise, and accountability.
A Call to Action
The world doesn’t need more conferences. It needs better ones. Events that protect dignity, amplify justice, and leave communities stronger than they were before.
If you are an organiser, you already hold the mic, the stage, and the spotlight. The question is: what will you use them for?
Because when business events choose to champion human rights, they don’t just convene people; they change the world those people return to.
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