Across three days in Geneva (25–27 November 2025), The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) and its Human Rights Coalition (HRC) worked with members, partners, and policymakers to shape practical, scalable solutions on Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) and responsible recruitment. Through strategic working sessions, a multi-stakeholder networking reception, with more than 100+ business leaders, and an intervention in the UN plenary, the CGF strengthened its role as a catalyst of industry pre-competitive efforts and a champion of shared learning.
Together, these engagements underscored a consistent signal from business. Companies want clearer expectations, shared methodologies and collaborative platforms that reduce duplication for suppliers, help optimise industry-wide due diligence and enable meaningful worker protection.
Scaling practical solutions for Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence
The HRC and AIM-Progress members convened a closed strategic working meeting with the International Trade Centre (ITC) to advance their shared HREDD programme.
This session marked a significant step in building a common understanding through the Converged HREDD Assessment Tool. Thanks to an ITC-supported digital platform, member companies can scale the approach globally while easing the burden on suppliers. The conversation reinforced a shared business priority to establish a due diligence landscape that offers clarity, efficiency, and consistency across value chains.
“Converging approaches to assess and strengthen supplier’s HREDD approaches is one of the most impactful things we can do as an industry. Moving the Converged HREDD Tool into a shared digital platform is a major step toward reducing duplication, facilitating information exchange and enabling more meaningful action across value chains.” – Louise Herring, Executive Director, AIM-Progress
We are delighted to work with AIM-Progress and the Consumer Goods Forum on the next phase of the converged HREDD assessment tool. At ITC, we are very pleased to support the digitalisation of the tool, which has tremendous potential to strengthen responsible sourcing, simplify due diligence, and empower companies across global value chains.” – Mathieu Lamolle, Senior Advisor, Sustainability Standards & Value Chains
By convening this group, the CGF helps support the industry at a pivotal moment, as companies prepare for expanding regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions.
An Evening of Peer Exchange on Risks Beyond Tier One
More than 100 business, government, and civil society representatives joined the CGF and Pillar Two for an evening reception and practitioner dialogue at the InterContinental Geneva, under the theme Addressing Hidden Risks Beyond Tier 1. This gathering highlighted the growing appetite among companies for honest, practical peer exchange on the complexities of multi-tier supply chains.
The evening opened with keynote remarks from Eleanor Lyons, UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, who reinforced the urgency of tackling recruitment-related risks and the momentum for impactful government-business collaboration.
A moderated discussion followed, featuring senior human rights leaders from Mondelēz International, Nestlé and Novartis, and closed with remarks by an anti-slavery advocate with lived experience in the Australian horticulture sector. Co-moderated by Maria Isabel Cubides, Senior Manager at The Consumer Goods Forum and Vanessa Zimmerman, CEO of Pillar Two, the session offered participants practical insight into the realities of extending due diligence beyond tier one, particularly under evolving regulatory frameworks.
The conversation also spotlighted collaborative initiatives such as the Ethical Recruitment Marketplace, designed by The CGF’s members to address the economic drivers of recruitment-related risks across key migration corridors. The networking that followed held energetic conversations amongst business leaders, echoing the value in creating spaces for experts to connect, compare experiences, and build the trusted relationships that support much needed alignment.
Bringing the Business Perspective to the UN’s Labour Migration Agenda
During the Forum’s plenary session on labour migration, Maria Isabel Cubides delivered an intervention on behalf of the CGF’s HRC. Responding to the UN Working Group’s findings on recruitment-stage abuse, she highlighted the alignment between the report and the Coalition’s multi-stakeholder Ethical Recruitment Marketplace, led by members including Heineken, Mondelēz International, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Unilever, and Woolworths Group.
Her intervention underscored growing business momentum behind transparent, fair recruitment practices and emphasised the need for multi-stakeholder to drive systemic change.
“The Ethical Recruitment Marketplace enables an ecosystem designed to make ethical recruitment a commercially viable norm in global supply chain. This new concept moves beyond conventional approaches, from pilots to impact at scale and articulates a fundamental shift from only a moral imperative to an economic advantage.” – Maria Isabel Cubides
She also invited governments, business peers, and civil society organisations to join the marketplace, as it moves toward phased deployment in Malaysia and Thailand from early 2026. You can replay the session here.
Uniting Business and Stakeholders Around a Shared Human Rights Agenda
Across all engagements in Geneva, there was a consistent message that no company or sector can address complex human rights risks alone, but alignment, shared learning, and practical tools can accelerate progress.
The Forum provided a platform for business leaders to deepen connections, exchange practical insight, and reaffirm their commitment to responsible recruitment and due diligence convergence. The CGF’s convening role, bringing companies together around common expectations and scalable solutions, continues to be a critical enabler of progress across global value chains in the effort to tackle forced labour.
To learn more about the work of the Human Rights Coalition, visit www.tcgfsocial.com.
