{"id":54664,"date":"2015-03-04T07:30:11","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T07:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=085b4067820881aa1733b595542e4ed6"},"modified":"2015-03-04T07:30:11","modified_gmt":"2015-03-04T07:30:11","slug":"news-story-leading-un-human-rights-expert-visits-uk-export-finance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=54664","title":{"rendered":"News story: Leading UN human rights expert visits  UK Export Finance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The discussion covered the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/bhr-action-plan\">UK government action plan on business and human rights<\/a> and the ways in which export credit agencies should seek to address the potential human rights impacts of the support they provide for exports. The work of UK Export Finance (<abbr title=\"UK Export Finance\">UKEF<\/abbr>) in supporting exports and projects was also discussed.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image embedded\">\n<div class=\"img\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"From left: Caroline Rees (SHIFT Project President), David Godfrey (UKEF Chief Executive) and Professor Ruggie\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/image_data\/file\/37064\/Ruggie2_960x640.jpg\"><\/div><figcaption>From left: Caroline Rees (Director SHIFT Project), David Godfrey (<abbr title=\"UK Export Finance\">UKEF<\/abbr> Chief Executive) and Professor Ruggie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As the UK\u2019s export credit agency, <abbr title=\"UK Export Finance\">UKEF<\/abbr> takes an active role in the development of international agreements on export credit policies and practices. <\/p>\n<p>Present at the discussion were <abbr title=\"UK Export Finance\">UKEF<\/abbr>\u2019s Chief Executive and members of the Export Guarantees Advisory Council (<abbr title=\"Export Guarantees Advisory Council\">EGAC<\/abbr>), an independent body whose remit is to advise Ministers and <abbr title=\"UK Export Finance\">UKEF<\/abbr> on the development and application of policies in relation to environmental impacts and human rights. Members of <abbr title=\"UK Export Finance\">UKEF<\/abbr>\u2019s in-house specialist unit on environmental, social and human rights also joined the discussions. <\/p>\n<p>Andrew Wiseman, Chair of the <abbr title=\"Export Guarantees Advisory Council\">EGAC<\/abbr>, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">UK Export Finance is unusual among ECAs in having an advisory council with a specific role to consider the application and development of its policies in this area. We found the discussion with Professor Ruggie useful in helping to set our human rights agenda.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>David Godfrey, UK Export Finance Chief Executive said: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">It was valuable to be able to discuss the implementation of the <abbr title=\"United Nations\">UN<\/abbr> Guiding Principles with Professor Ruggie. There are specific complexities and challenges that apply to export credit agencies. These are government-controlled entities, but they operate in a commercial environment to support the financing of projects and national exports.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"image embedded\">\n<div class=\"img\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"From left: Professor Ruggie with EGAC Chair Andrew Wiseman \" src=\"https:\/\/assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/image_data\/file\/37065\/Ruggie3_960x640.jpg\"><\/div><figcaption>From left: Professor Ruggie with <abbr title=\"Export Guarantees Advisory Council\">EGAC<\/abbr> Chair Andrew Wiseman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mr Ruggie was accompanied by representatives of the SHIFT project, an independent, non-profit centre for business and human rights practice, which he chairs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/processes-and-factors-in-uk-export-finance-consideration-of-applicants\">Read a note providing information on UK Export Finance and Human Rights.<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_1093\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Media enquiries: Lynda Hardy Maskell, Media Relations Manager<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"email\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Email<\/span><br \/>\n              <a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:Lynda.hardy-maskell@ukef.gsi.gov.uk\">Lynda.hardy-maskell@ukef.gsi.gov.uk<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Telephone<\/span><br \/>\n              07812 667321 or out-of-hours: 020 7215 3505\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Professor John Ruggie, the author of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, met with senior officials from UK Export Finance and members of its advisory council for discussions on human rights and support for exports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}