Ruggie Pushes Corporate Human Rights Improvement, Harkin-Engel Pushes End to Child Labor in Cocoa

Earlier this month, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights and Business John Ruggie presented his third report to the Human Rights Council. In a significant development, the report sets forth a framework for states protecting against human rights abuses, companies respecting human rights, and victims accessing remedies. It also praises best practice, such as mandated sustainability reporting in South Africa and most recently Sweden, as well as spotlighting gaps, such as a lack of coordinated grievance mechanisms for voluntary initiatives such as the Equator Principles covering financiers of resource extraction projects and the like. Perhaps more significant are the responses to the report coming from all quarters, including business, investors, and activists. The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) welcomed the report, particularly for outlining six inter-related attributes (legitimate; accessible; predictable; equitable; rights-compatible; and transparent) of effective grievance mechanisms companies can apply. A group of socially responsible investors also hailed the report for promoting greater transparency on corporate human rights performance. The social investors also noted that an “affirmative approach to human rights” could benefit “risk-conscious corporations” by reducing the need for shareholder activism. For example, Newmont Mining improved its human rights and environmental practices and so recommended voting in favor of a 2007 shareholder resolution seeking such action that received 95.3 percent support, according to a report supplementing Ruggie’s mandate. Image Source: childlaborphotoproject.org. >Continue.

News selected by Covalence | Country: Ghana | Company: Newmont Mining | Source: CSR Wire