A Business Leader Award was first proposed in May 2008 at the World Economic Forum (WEF) session held in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt by representatives of the international community; the proposal was seconded by the business community. This call was echoed in March 2009 at the Bahrain Conference, Human Trafficking at the Crossroads, which concluded with the Manama Declaration, advocating zero-tolerance to human trafficking.
The award will mark tangible achievement and acknowledge the vision, creativity and contribution of business leaders in identifying, combating and preventing human trafficking. It will highlight innovation in labor policies, supply chain management and corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Criteria of eligibility
1. To be eligible for consideration, the business leader must be working in an entity which is a legally registered organization providing goods and/or services.
2. As an international award, submissions from all regions and countries are eligible.
3. The specific anti-human trafficking initiative by the respective business leader entered for consideration must relate to activities undertaken within the last ten years, since 2000 when the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking In Persons, Especially Women and Children was adopted.
Nomination criteria
The award program will consider nominations of business leaders who have proven that they have the vision and commitment to combating human trafficking and who fulfill one or more of the following criteria:
1. The business leader has led a socially responsible initiative to combat human trafficking : The leader must have played a major role in the conceptualization, and successful realization of an initiative which has effected a positive change towards combating human trafficking such as the provision of support to victims of trafficking;
2. The business leader can demonstrate the influence he or she has had on different levels of his or her company’s business management and operations in identifying, combating and preventing any form of human trafficking: The resulting corporate policies and practices, dealing with human trafficking issues, including appropriate responses for victims must be innovative in their approach.
3. The business leader has successfully engaged a wider community/audience in preventive measures against human trafficking: They must have produced an outcome that benefits the most vulnerable of persons, such as the creation of jobs, victim support shelters, educational and information programmes, IT solutions and so on.
Nomination criteria are guided by
1. The Athens Ethical Principles
2. The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact aand the ILO Declarations´on Fundamental Principles adn Rights at Work
Other international instruments on human trafficking.
Submission Process
Applications can be submitted online by filling the nomination form.
Any hard copies of reports, documents and materials relevant to the application should be sent to:
Business Leaders Award Secretariat
c/o End Human Trafficking Now
6, rue de Berne
Case Postale 2161
1211 Geneva 1
Switzerland
Evaluation and Selection Process
1. Qualifying entries will be reviewed by members of the Advisory Committee who will use an average score system to produce a shortlist of 25 candidates.
2. A detailed reference and fact check of the short listed candidates will then be conducted by the award secretariat.
3. This will be followed by a second round of screening by the Advisory Committee using a preferential voting system to select five nominees for consideration by the Jury.
4. A further evaluation of the five finalists will be conducted. This may include site visits and one-on-one interviews to provide in-depth information on the businesses executive and the initiative.
5. The five final candidates will be informed of their position and invited to the award ceremony to be held in Luxor in 12 December 2010, where a final decision on the winner of the award will be taken by the Jury.
Key dates
Award Cycle (2009 - 2010)
Start of nomination process: 1 May 2010
End of nomination process: 30 September 2010
Meeting of the Jury: 11 December 2010
Award Ceremony: 12 December 2010
Award Cycle (2011 - 2012)
The opening of the nomination process will be announced shortly
Moreinfo: http://businessleaderaward.org
