Human Rights
In 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) establishing a global standard on the roles of businesses and governments in ensuring that companies respect human rights.
We advocate for companies within our membership and beyond to embed the UNGPs into their operations. We also position respect for human rights as a crucial vehicle through which business can help achieve the broader vision of peaceful and inclusive societies embraced by the Sustainable Development Goals.
The challenge
Companies continue to face barriers to operationalizing respect for human rights across their businesses, in many cases struggling to foster internal awareness and leadership within their organizations and falling short of translating policies into practice across complex and dynamic global supply chains. This is set against the backdrop of a rapidly evolving regulatory environment, coupled with enhanced expectations and scrutiny from stakeholders.
The business case
Understanding the human rights impacts on their business helps companies to better manage and mitigate reputational risks and minimize operational costs. Demonstrating corporate commitment to respecting human rights also leads to enhanced engagement with a variety of stakeholders and provides significant opportunities for companies to differentiate themselves from competitors.
The solution
Our human rights work supports the operationalization of the UNGPs and seeks to increase the number of companies knowing and showing that they respect human rights. We do this by:
- Inspiring, informing and advocating for business action;
- Facilitating peer-to-peer learning to capture, highlight and disseminate solutions;
- Connecting companies and promoting partnerships;
- Representing the voice of leading business in global platforms and inter-governmental processes.
Publication
31 Jan 2023
Continuous Improvement in Human Rights Due Diligence: 2020 case-study progress
SDG Impact
Embedding respect for human rights in company operations and along corporate value chains is one of the most significant opportunities business has to advance the SDG agenda, and has the potential to drive progress across a wide range of goals.
Contacts
