What are Human rights?
Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights without discrimination.
In 1948 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was published. This is the first legal document that outlines the fundamental human rights to be universally protected and is the foundation for all international human rights law.
The UDHR, together with the 2 covenants - the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - make up the International Bill of Rights.
All human rights are inseparable and independent which means that one set of rights cannot be enjoyed fully without the other, for example, making progress in civil and political rights makes it easier to exercise economic, social, and cultural rights.
Why are human rights important for companies?
Companies can affect human rights in both positive and negative ways of their employees, their customers, workers in the supply chain and communities that live nearby their operations.
Reasons for companies to ensure the respect of all human rights are, among others,
To respond to stakeholders’ expectations and build trust.
To identify human rights risks through all company activities.
To demonstrate that the company is a leader and follows good company practices.
To avoid financial risks (reputational and compliance risks e.g., loss of customers, investments)
To comply with upcoming legislation (e.g., EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence)
Some of the most common human rights incidents around Europe and the incidents divided by sector:
Both pictures are based on information from European Union agency for fundamental rights, Research “Business-related human rights abuse in the EU and available remedies” published 2019. (1) are based on total number of incidents in the research, (2) are based on the distribution of incidents, by industry sector in the research.
“The responsibility to respect human rights is not optional for companies and it applies to all companies regardless of their size, sector, context, or ownership.” – UN Principle 14
The UN adopted the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in 2011 and although these principles are voluntary, they have become a global standard of expected conduct for companies. The UN writes “The responsibility to respect human rights is a global standard of expected conduct for all companies wherever they operate. It exists independently of States’ abilities and/or willingness to fulfil their own human rights obligations and does not lower those obligations”. A company can be involved in adverse human rights in the following three ways according to the UN:
cause the adverse impacts through its own activities
contribute to the adverse impacts through its own activities -either directly or indirectly
neither cause nor contribute to the adverse impact but be involved because the impact is caused by an entity with which it has a business relationship and is linked to its own operation, product, or services.
Companies are required to address adverse human rights impacts by undertaking measures for their prevention, mitigation and, where appropriate, remediation. The responsibility of companies to respect human rights is based at a minimum to those human rights expressed In the International Bill of Human Rights and the principles concerning fundamental rights set out in the international Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
How can companies avoid negatively impacting human rights?
Companies should have the following policies and processes in place in order to know and show that they respect human rights, including:
a policy commitment to meet their responsibility to respect human rights.
a human rights due diligence process to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for how they address their impacts on human rights.
processes to enable the remediation of any adverse human rights impacts they cause or to which they contribute to.
in some cases, companies may need to consider additional standards, e.g., companies should respect the human rights of individuals belonging to vulnerable groups and in situation of armed conflict.
Respecting human rights, requires not just having a document/certification that the company has signed, it also requires implementation and action to achieve credibility and legitimacy.