Asean CSR

Background

The unanimous endorsement of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2011 represented a watershed moment in efforts to tackle adverse impacts on people resulting from globalization and business activity in all sectors. They provided, for the first time, a globally recognized and authoritative framework for the respective duties and responsibilities of Governments and business enterprises to prevent and address such impacts.

The Guiding Principles clarify that all business enterprises have an independent responsibility to respect human rights, and that in order to do so they are required to exercise human rights due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address impacts on human rights.

Working Group report on human rights due diligence

In its report to the 2018 UN General Assembly, the Working Group on Business and Human Rights  highlights key features of human rights due diligence and why it matters; gaps and challenges in current business and Government practice; emerging good practices; and how key stakeholders — States and the investment community, in particular — can contribute to the scaling-up of effective human rights due diligence.

Human rights due diligence in practice is a major focus of the 2018 UN Forum on Business and Human Rights.

Download the Working Group report on human rights due diligence to the 2018 General Assembly here.
Download the key documents to the report here.

Reproduced from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The ASEAN Responsible Business Forum was held from 27 to 28 August 2018 in Singapore. This flagship event of the ASEAN CSR Network aims to enhance understanding of the role of responsible and inclusive business in creating an inclusive, resilient and sustainable ASEAN community.

Download the summary report of the event here.

Top ASEAN listed companies show improvement in the 2018 Business Integrity Disclosure in ASEAN study

A joint study on Corporate Disclosure on Business Integrity in ASEAN by the ASEAN CSR Network (ACN) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School’s Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organisations (CGIO) found that corporate disclosure of anti-corruption practices by top ASEAN listed companies has improved over the last two years.

However, there are still concerns over a lack of safeguards and practices regarding external relationships with agents and suppliers dealing with the organisations.

The study looked at the 50 largest companies by market capitalisation in each of the five countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – and assessed their level of public disclosure related to their anti-corruption efforts. The results were compared to a baseline study that was conducted 2016.

Access the full report below.