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Corporate responsibility for human rights: a growing imperative
- New regulations, widespread access to data and shifting stakeholder expectations are pressuring organizations to spot and mitigate forced labor and other human rights abuses in their operations.
- These risks can be difficult to uncover, much less resolve, as they’re often deep in supply chains and intersect with parallel sustainability efforts — yet inaction can result in severe penalties, disruption and reputational risk.
- A holistic approach — one that’s integrated into a broader corporate responsibility strategy — can help businesses confront the challenge of advancing both human rights and sustainability.
Sampling of recent human rights regulations (not exhaustive)
With evolving sustainability regulations, widespread access to data, and shifting investor and customer expectations, businesses are under mounting pressure to eliminate human rights abuses from their operations. Issues such as forced labor, child labor, human trafficking and unsafe working conditions are deeply embedded within global supply chains. While identifying where these risks lie may seem difficult, the greater challenge is often what to do next.
When companies purchase materials and components used in their products and services, they should be mindful of how these items were sourced or extracted from the ground. Some components and materials may originate in countries with deficient human rights and environmental practices. Corporate responsibility in all pursuits requires vigilance against human rights abuses across the enterprise and supply chain. This includes the initiatives companies undertake to reduce their carbon footprint.
Organizations and their risk, compliance and procurement teams are now at an inflection point. Success in this new era of corporate responsibility demands a holistic approach that integrates human rights into a broader sustainability framework. This will require extensive engagement with external stakeholders (suppliers, local communities, non-governmental organizations, industry groups) to better understand human rights risks and to create processes for identifying, mitigating and preventing them. Performing due diligence and integrating monitoring technology throughout the value chain can complement this approach by detecting hidden issues early so that organizations can act swiftly.
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