Einde inhoudsopgave
Corporate Social Responsibility (IVOR nr. 77) 2010/7.6
7.6 HRIA tools and sector approaches
Mr. T.E. Lambooy, datum 17-11-2010
- Datum
17-11-2010
- Auteur
Mr. T.E. Lambooy
- JCDI
JCDI:ADS363372:1
- Vakgebied(en)
Ondernemingsrecht (V)
Voetnoten
Voetnoten
See supra note 13.
For example: Shell cooperated with the Danish Institute for Human Rights concerning the development of this instrument. See Human rights training, tools and guidelines, http:// www.shell.com/home/content/environment_society/society/human_rights/training_tools_-guidelines/, accessed on 12 August 2010.
It is noted that the G3 connects to the Global Compact Principles and the Earth Charter. For a company that adheres to one or both of these codes, the G3 makes it easy to report on human rights compliance. See two reports of GRI, 'A Resource Guide to Corporate Human Rights Reporting' and 'Corporate Human Rights Reporting: An Analysis of Current Trends', 2009, http://www.globalreporting.org/CurrentPriorities/HumanRights/, accessed on 12 August 2010.
All HRIAs listed have websites explaining their tool. For BLIHR, see: http://www.human-rights-matrix.net/assets/ES%20final.pdf, accessed on 12 August 2010. See also: supra note 13.
Ruggie 2008-2, supra note 105 [§ 23].
Ruggie 2008-2, supra note 105 [§ 24].
Report 18 May 2009; UN Doc. A/HRC/11/12/Add.2. Various scandals have been reported over the years. See, for example, 'Pfizer to Pay $75 Million to Settle Trovan-Testing Suit', Washington Post, 31 July 2009, at: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/30/AR2009073001847.html ('Pfizer signed a USD 75 million agreement with Nigerian authorities to settle criminal and civil charges that the pharmaceutical company illegally tested an experimental drug on children during a 1996 meningitis epidemic'), website accessed on 12 August 2010.
GSK and other pharmaceutical companies are also active in establishing public-private partnerships (PPPs) aimed at contributing to the Millennium Development Goals. See GSK 'Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2008', at: http://www.gsk.com/responsibility/downloads/GSK-CR-2009-full.pdf, pp. 37, 59-61, 72, 73, accessed on 12 August 2010.
E.g. tuberculosis, malaria, blinding trachoma, buruli ulcers, cholera, dengue/dengue hae-morrhagic fever, racunculiasis, fascioliasis, human African trypanosomiasis.
Non-exclusive voluntary licences are meant to increase access, in low-income and middle-income countries, to all medicines. Exclusive licences, on the other hand, based on the Western intellectual property regime, hinder access to medicines because the treatment becomes unaffordable for the local population in developing and least developed countries. E.g., GSK grants voluntary licences on a case-by-case basis. It granted its first voluntary licence in 2001 for producing and selling ARVs to Pharmacare, sub-Saharan Africa s largest generics company. The licence now covers both the public and private sectors across sub-Saharan Africa; Supra note 137 [§ 75].
E.g. Article 4.2 of the SA 8000 guidelines suggest to implement human rights grievance committees and employees representative bodies. See: www.sa-intl.org, accessed on 12 August 2010.
. Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, at: http://www.voluntaryprinciples.org/; Publish What you Pay, at: http://www.publishwhatyoupay.org/; Extracting Industries Transparency Initiative, at: http://eitransparency.org/; all websites accessed on 1 August 010. A number of gold companies have signed up to the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), which has a code of conduct for mining companies as well as up the gold supply chain. The International Council on Mining and Metals - ICMM - was formed in 2001 to represent the world s leading companies in the mining and metals industry and to advance their commitment to sustainable development, at: http://www.icmm.com/about-us/icmm-history, accessed on 12 August 2010. ICMM s Sustainable Development Framework outlines principles supported by reporting guidelines (GRI Mining and Metals Supplement) as well as third party assurance. However this is at a corporate level for the time being (rather than a site level). For site performance, the most well known system is the Mining Association of Canada s Towards Sustainable Mining. It also includes third party review via a multi-stakeholder panel, but the topics that are covered do not go across all corporate social responsibility topics. See also: J. Spinelli (Daylight Forensic & Advisory), 'Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Due Diligence in Mergers & Acquisitions', Ethishere Institute (online news service), 13 May 2009, at: http://ethisphere.com/foreign-corrupt-practices-act-due-diligence-in-mergers-acquisitions/, visited on 12 August 2010, illustrating that extensive FCPA due diligence is needed when operating in a high-risk industry (e.g. oil), in high-risk countries and in deals with government owned organisations.
World Bank, Development Policy Lending 2006 http://siteresources.worldbank.org/PROJECTS/Resources/DPLretro06f.pdf. IFC, IFC Environmental and Social Standards, 30 April 2006 http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/sustainability.nsf/Content/EnvSocStandards; The International Finance Corporation S new environmental and social requirements, at: http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/pr_BackgroundNoteES/$FILE/Background+Note+-+New+ES+Standards.pdf. Also see: L. Baker, Bretton Woods Project, May 2007, The World Bank and human rights. Caution on World Bank developments,at: http://www.ifiwatchnet.org/sites/ifiwatchnet.org/files/The_World_Bank_and_human_rights-% 20at%20issue.pdf. All sites accessed on 12 August 2010.
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an NGO which has developed a certification system for sustainably produced timber. Certification requires compliance with the FCS Principles and Criteria for responsible forest management. See further: http://www.fsc.org/pc.html, accessed on 12 August 2010.
There are also other certification labels; however, one should evaluate their legitimacy. A programme supported by all stakeholders (rather than one set up by the industry itself) scores highly on legitimacy. See Chapter 6.
Palm oil is one of the key ingredients for Unilever. See the report 'Palm Oil: Sustainable Future, 2002', at: http://www.unilever.com/images/Palm%20Oil%20-%20A%20Sustainable%20Future%202002_tcm13-5315.pdf, accessed on 12 August 2010.
The myriad of human rights conventions and other instruments are very important but sometimes not very practical to work with - implying thousands of pages and often in a difficult 'legal language'. Over the years international human rights law has been ' translated into practical frameworks for business actors, i.e. the HRIA instruments. Some even offer an industry-specific approach. Scientific institutions, NGOs and human rights consultants have developed these HRIAs and it is they that conduct them.1 Business can profit from their knowledge and skills. An HRIA is basically an assessment of the affairs of a company which reveals (potential) human rights impacts of the company s activities, leading to recommendations on how to improve performance. In addition, the process will help a company to gather information for its public reporting, and hence improve internal information streams, which will ultimately contribute to a better corporate performance as risks can be better dealt with. HRIAs seem perfectly adapted to be used in the due diligence suggested by Ruggie. The most familiar ones are:
Human Rights Compliance Assessment (Danish Institute for Human Rights);2
Human rights indicators for sustainability reporting - GRI G3 guidelines(GRI);3
Global Compact: Human Rights Translated - A Business Reference Guide (Monash University, Australia); and
Guide for Integrating Human Rights into Business Management (online tool; 2nd edition 2009) (Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights).4
Since every company is organised differently, due diligence processes come in various forms. The Ruggie Report anticipates that a company s approach depends on "the country context, the nature of the activity and industry, and the size of investment."5It is expected of a company that it performs a more detailed due diligence assessment concerning its own operations and subsidiaries abroad, than in regard to suppliers that are several links away from the company's activities.6
An interesting example of how to differentiate human rights issues per industry can be found in the report by the UN Special Representative on the Right to Health. In cooperation with the UK-based pharmaceutical multinational company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), he has prepared a report containing many practical recommendations.7 In order to address any potential negative impacts, the report proposes that pharmaceutical companies adhere to clear ethical guidelines when testing on people, especially when it concerns people in developing countries, as poor people tend to be more susceptible to participating in unhealthy experiments that generate some income. Other recommendations emphasise that a pharmaceutical company can contribute to fulfilling the Right to Health.8 Examples are:
providing access to medicine by extending the company's supply channels in order to bring the medicines closer to the people, also those living in rural areas;
to provide good quality, up-to-date and clear instructions on how to use the medicine, the safety aspects and side-effects; in relevant languages, if useful illustrated by drawings for illiterate people;
developing medicines that can resist variations in temperature as electricity for cooling is not always reliable in developing countries;
cooperating with local companies in the production of generic medicines and controlling quality;
prices should be differentiated in line with local living standards;
invest in research and development in treatment for neglected tropical diseases, i.e. diseases that only occur in the Third World and for which treatment is not very profitable;9
providing licences to developing States, including non-exclusive commercial voluntary licences and non-commercial voluntary licences, in order to ensure an adequate access to medicines;10
use impact assessments to help pharmaceutical companies to ensure that their human rights policy is consistently integrated across all of the company s activities;
disclosure and transparency activities of pharmaceutical companies and their subsidiaries (disclosure of all advocacy and lobbying positions and the impact of companies activities); and
appropriate accountability and monitoring mechanisms for pharmaceutical companies (including external monitoring mechanisms, such as an Ombudsman with oversight of a company s human rights responsibilities, including those relating to access to medicines).
Other industries have also developed codes of conduct including human rights standards specific to the industry. These standards are useful when determining the scope and extent of a due diligence process. For example, the garment industry can follow the Social Accounting 8000 standards and audit regime aimed at managing ethical workplace conditions throughout the global supply chain (SA 8000). This approach has found satisfactory solutions to respect human rights in countries that do not recognise the freedom of association and collective bargaining.11 The extractive industry has developed various codes of conduct. Some pertain to security issues, including instructions on how to deal with private security forces (e.g. VPSHR); others pertain to avoid corruption and complicity with governmental abuses (e.g. PWYP and EITI).12 Large infra-structural projects are frequently (partly) financed by multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank or the International Finance Cooperation (IFC). These organisations impose their own human rights standards on lenders, such as that people will be duly compensated when they have to move from their land because of new public works.13 For timber, one can buy certified timber such as FSC.14 The certification process includes environmental and human rights due diligence assessments. In other words, by buying certified timber, a company 'outsources' its due diligence review.15 Soy and palm oil production have organised 'round tables with stakeholders. The round-table mechanism intends to institutionalise a shareholder dialogue, partly to assure that no human rights will be violated by the production. Other reasons concern ecological matters and the loss of biodiversity.16
These examples demonstrate that various sectors have identified industry-specific human rights issues recognised by all involved, i.e. companies, civil society and governments. To take notice hereof can help in designing a human rights due diligence process. There are also industries that generally lack effective codes of conduct on human rights issues e.g. real estate development (in particular hotels and golf courses), tourism, fisheries, meat, tobacco and weapons. For companies in those sectors, it would be particularly useful to undertake a full human rights due diligence assessment.