John Ruggie

(In Memoriam) Former Chair and Patron, IHRB; Author, UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights

The late Professor John Gerard Ruggie was the Berthold Beitz Research Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and an Affiliated Professor in International Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. From 1997 to 2001, Ruggie served as United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning, a post created specifically for him by then Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

He was one of the architects of the United Nations Global Compact as well as of the Millennium Development Goals, the precursor of the Sustainable Development Goals. From 2005-11 he served as the Special Representative to the UN Secretary General on Business and Human Rights and drafted the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. He was the chair of the board of the non-profit organisation Shift, and also a Board member of the Arabesque Group, an ESG data provider, in addition to serving as IHRB's Chair from 2012-2016 and then as its Patron until his passing in 2021.

The various commentaries and statements John produced for IHRB over the years are available in the gallery further below.