The launch of the UN guiding principles on business and human rights or UNGPs
has focused a lot of attention lately on the extent of business's
responsibilities and obligations vis-a- vis human rights. Companies can have both
a positive and negative impact on people, but what is their responsibility
specifically with respect to human rights? According to the UNGP's
businesses have a corporate responsibility to respect human rights.
Respect for human rights requires that businesses implement the UNGPs to avoid
and address any adverse human rights impact with which they are involved. It
sounds simple enough but what does this mean in practical terms? How do
businesses go about satisfactorily demonstrating their commitment to
respecting human rights? Let's talk about the UNGPs and what businesses need to
do in order to properly implement them - with particular emphasis on human rights
due diligence (and if you find this video useful please don't forget to give us a
like before you leave)
the UNGPs were unanimously approved by the United Nations Human Rights Council
and serve as an international norm of expected business conduct that apply
to all businesses, regardless of size. According to the UNGPs in order to both
know and show that they respect human rights, business needs to demonstrate the
following three things: First they need to have a formal policy or commitment in
it in place to respect human rights. Now this doesn't need to be a 10-page
charter outlining all the human rights at the organization with respect but it
should be aligned to or refer to at least relevant international instruments
like the UN declaration on human rights. Secondly, they need to have a human
rights due diligence process in place which is not just a one-off, but which is
conducted on an ongoing basis, and; third they need to have processes or
mechanisms which enables the remediation of business-related human rights harms
and if you're interested in learning more about this topic please check out
our video on grievance mechanisms and I'll leave a link in the description box
below. Of these three elements businesses sometimes struggle the most with the
concept of due diligence. Human rights due diligence needs to cover all the
different types of impacts that might cause conflict with internationally
recognized human rights. This includes the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two
optional protocols, and the International Covenant on economic social and cultural
rights. Using these references as guides the identification of actual and
potential impacts on human rights needs to include all the impacts that the
business causes directly, the impact that the business contributes to, as well as
the impacts that are directly linked to the businesses operations, its products
or services, and/or its relationships and this focus on impacts and business
relationships and its supply chains and other business relationships is an
integral if often overlooked part of human rights due diligence.
As stated in the UN GPS actual and potential human rights impacts need to
be avoided and addressed by conducting an effective Human Rights due diligence
process. A proper Human Rights due diligence process should include the
following four key steps. Step one: identifying and assessing human rights
impacts. And while there's no single or prescribed methodology by the UNGPs
used to identify human rights risks what is essential is that all actual and
potential adverse Human Rights impacts of both the business itself and its
associated relationships are taken into account. Now this might involve
integrating human rights into existing risk identification processes or it
could be a stand-alone assessment that focuses exclusively on Human Rights.
What's common to most approaches is that they tend to involve research and
dialogue both internally and externally and should be based on the foundational
Human Rights instruments that we mentioned previously. Other actions at
this stage might involve setting up a screening process for new or
existing suppliers consulting with contracted workers about their working
conditions and gaining a better understanding of the organization's
supply chain beyond its Tier One suppliers. All these actions should
result in a list of actual and potential human rights risks that could be linked
to the business. In step two we focus on integrating the findings. In this step
the business needs to respond and act upon the findings of the impact
assessment. This may involve integrating relevant policies procedures and
practices within specific operations right across the business - such as
developing human rights awareness program for your procurement department
to allow them to better identify human rights risks, setting out internal
training requirements within your Human Resources department, or instituting new
incident reporting requirements to mitigate human rights risk as part of
your health and safety operations and so on. And this takes us to step 3.
Step three is all about tracking and monitoring. Tracking and monitoring of
the effectiveness of responses should be a part of an ongoing process to verify
whether adverse Human Rights impacts are being effectively addressed. In this step
you might carry out internal audit of your supplier screening processes or
ensure that there are proper oversights of the complaints process and that the
number and the nature of the complaints are regularly reported to top management
for their action. While many of these processes may be internal, it's important
also to involve affected rights holders and other stakeholders externally when
monitoring effectiveness. And finally in step 4 on communicating and reporting.
Information about your due diligence process and impact should be publicly
communicated in ways that are accessible, that provide relevant information, and
don't pose risks to rights holders or others such as human rights defenders
journalists or trade unionists. Examples of communications might include:
a public response to allegations that company might be facing, the publishing
of a modern slavery statements such as those required in jurisdictions like the
UK and Australia, and may also include formal or informal dialogue with
stakeholders in ways that help to enhance accountability. In summary
ensuring that your organization has an effective and ongoing Human Rights due
diligence process in place is an important way to demonstrate respect for
human rights according to the UNGPs. Following these practical steps for due
diligence that we've covered here will enable your organization to both know
and show that it takes its obligations towards upholding human rights seriously
and help to safeguarded against potential human rights risks.
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