Contribution by Erinch Sahan, Senior Policy Adviser on Business and Markets, Oxfam GB Asia on how the business community needs to lead its own discussion about where to target their efforts on business and human rights, and a focus on the most vulnerable people is a sensible starting point.

The UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on Business and Human Rights are driving us into a new era of CSR. For the first time, we now have clarity on the roles and responsibilities of the state and businesses on the human rights agenda. Since the UN Human Rights Council unanimously welcomed the Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework at the heart of the UNGPs in 2008, the framework has taken the CSR field by storm, with increasing acceptance of the framework as the basis for respecting and upholding rights. The ASEAN business community is also taking notice. The ASEAN Responsible Business Forum in Kuala Lumpur on 27-29 October will be a key stepping stone in advancing the ASEAN specific conversation on Business and Human Rights.

 

The UNGPs Framework

The UNGPs are based on the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

They apply to all states and businesses regardless of size, sector, location, ownership, or structure and regardless of states’ ability and/or willingness to fulfil their own human rights obligations. The Guiding Principles for businesses are as follows:

1.         Commitment: A company should express its commitment to respect human rights, including labour rights, through a public statement

2.         Integration in the business and implementation with suppliers: The policy is reflected in operational policies and processes necessary to embed it throughout the business enterprise

3.         Tools and processes for due diligence: The company conducts impact assessments, and acts on its findings (by both preventing or mitigating impact, and by remediating impact). It also tracks effectiveness of its response to human rights impacts, is transparent about how it’s addressing impacts and conducts meaningful stakeholder engagement.

4.         Remediation by grievance mechanisms: The company ensures remediation through legitimate processes, such as an effective grievance mechanism to identify impact and to address grievances.

Companies have already started framing their approach to and reporting on human rights and social impact issues along these lines. For instance, in a strong effort to conduct due diligence, Unilever released a cutting-edge report on human rights earlier this year. At the heart of this is an awareness and acknowledgement of the issues that still persist in workplaces and communities around the world. The report opens with this:

Hundreds of millions of people suffer from discrimination in the world of work. 1.3 billion people live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.25 a day. 34 nations present an ‘extreme’ risk of human rights violations. Nearly 21 million people are victims of forced labour.

Focusing on the most vulnerable

The UNGPs should be implemented with a special focus on the rights and needs of groups who are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses linked to business practices. An essential starting point is for companies to map where vulnerable groups exist in the supply chain in order to understand how the business is impacting these people. The results of vulnerability mapping can then be used to establish the salient impacts on which the company needs to take action.

Women and girls are especially vulnerable to human rights abuses linked to business practices: in the workplace they are more likely to have unstable contracts, lower wages, and less skilled jobs. Because women undertake more domestic labour in addition to paid employment, unfavourable working conditions such as long hours have a greater negative impact on them. Girls are also more likely to be taken out of school for employment. More women than men work in temporary and informal positions that are not covered by the law. To implement the UNGPs effectively, businesses therefore need to maintain data on women in their operations and value chain and address any adverse impacts that are discovered, using accessible and legitimate remediation processes.

Transparency, due diligence and grievance mechanisms

Robust due diligence processes and transparency about risks are important elements of implementing the UNGPs effectively. Companies need proactively to track human rights risks throughout their business operations. Consultation with potentially affected groups is an important tool to use in tracking. It can also be useful to consult local nongovernment organisations (NGOs) and community and worker organisations, and/or to involve independent researchers with a background in human rights in the relevant sectors, or at least to review relevant independent research. Transparency in communicating the results of these processes is important, as the UNGPs emphasise the need for companies to understand and disclose risks early and often. Grievance mechanisms are “bottom up” tools which complement these “top down” forms of accountability. To be effective they need to be accessible (e.g. in local languages, and stakeholders need to know they exist and where to find them); timely; fair; optionally confidential; and based on relevant human rights norms.

Interaction between business partners and governments

Companies have a heightened responsibility to respect human rights throughout their operations in global supply chains, and must take a greater responsibility if they choose to operate in countries where protection of human rights by the government is weak. Where national legislation prescribes minimum standards or benefits relating to human rights which may set a low bar for compliance, international companies need to exceed those minimum standards or benefits. National legislation remains relevant, but the UNGPs have a separate authority; for example, a company operating in a country with poor human rights policies is still expected to respect the internationally recognised human rights of its employees. The UNGPs promote the responsibility of companies to use their leverage with business partners along the value chain, including government bodies, to ensure that human rights are respected and upheld throughout their operations. A company is expected to take action not only when it is causing a human rights abuse, but also when it is contributing to negative impacts or is linked to risks through a business relationship. The interaction between governments and businesses can also be mutually reinforcing. Under the UNGPs framework, host governments have a duty to protect individuals within their country from human rights abuses by businesses, by putting in place structures that prevent as well as remedy issues, including in relation to businesses which they own or control. Governments also need to ensure that private companies under their jurisdiction do not commit human rights violations abroad, as part of their duty to protect The European Commission is proactively influencing member states to embed the UNGPs within legislation, as part of its 2011–14 strategy on CSR. This is a positive step towards governments reinforcing and strengthening business commitments to the UNGPs.

Conclusion

As the UNGPs spread through the ASEAN business community, issues and approaches that are specific to ASEAN will arise. It is for this reason that the ASEAN business community needs to lead its own discussion about where to target their efforts on business and human rights, and a focus on the most vulnerable people is a sensible starting point.

Note: Oxfam has published further information as well as case studies on Business and Human Rights in a prior report titled: Business and Human Rights: An Oxfam perspective on the UN Guiding Principles. Much of the information above is taken from that earlier issue brief.