We must apply best practices in human rights, workers' rights, environ-

mental policy, and the fight against corruption. These practices should be
universal. But the reality is that children and adults are bought and sold,
rights and freedoms are routinely ignored, the pharmaceutical patents sys-
tem rides roughshod over the principles of fairness, and injustice reigns ev-
erywhere.

Past experience ─such as the Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal, India, in

1984, where a poisonous leak killed thousands and afflicted close to 200,000
with permanent serious illness; exploitative sweatshops and plantations
around the world; the effects of drug patents on the death figures for AIDS
and other diseases; violations of the freedom of expression and assembly in
the world's "South"─ counsels that awareness of the formidable array of po-
tential injustices may help us make the right response.
In light of situations like these, it is not enough that a corporation voluntarily
assume responsibility and file a threefold financial, social and environmental
annual report. Business must abide by those rights, each of which is a charter
born of hard-won victories, each of which must take precedence over all other
claims and special pleading; and business must do so not as some optional
concession, but in the way of discharging a duty of fundamental justice.

It is a pressing concern that corporations should place respect for human

rights at the heart of their business, identify those aspects of their operations
that impinge upon fundamental rights, design practices directed at safeguard-
ing those rights, construct indicators by which such practices can be evalu-
ated, and submit to the supervision of internal and independent audits. These
measures must meld together as a self-consistent ethos, a corporate sense of
citizenship nurtured from within.

The rights of the three generations are at stake, ranging from the right to life
in cases such as Bhopal, arms manufacturing and dealing, patents, or food
prices, to the freedom to express complaints, freedom of assembly, rights to
non-discrimination and decent pay for the sustenance of a family, freedom
from child labor and from the exploitation of adults, the right to safety at
work, the right to development. Yet no progress will be made towards the
ever-deferred Millennium Development Goals if businesses refuse to play
their part.

There are two main challenges on the table: a business, like any other human
organization, is under a duty to respect human rights by avoiding harm; but it
is also in a position actively to support human rights within its sphere of in-
fluence-it can offer its positive assistance to human rights protection.
Businesses can help break the vicious circle of violations that typically takes
hold in countries beset by legal and governmental shortcomings, and set in
motion a virtuous circle of good practice. an ethical company is a public good
that benefits the entire community. Corporations can seek to influence gov-
ernment and society towards forms of law that protect human rights. And
protection is not the role of governments alone; it likewise behooves civil soci-
ety to don the mantle of human rights, for modern citizenship cannot help but
be local and cosmopolitan at one and same time.

The Global Compact Principles

The Global Compact's ten principles in the areas of human rights,

labour, the environment and anti-corruption are derived from:

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• The International Labour Organization's Declaration on Funda-
mental Principles and Rights at Work
• The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
• The United Nations Convention Against Corruption
The Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and en-
act, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the ar-
eas of human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-
corruption:

Human Rights
• Principle 1: Business should support and respect the protection of
internationally proclaimed human rights; and
• Principle 2: Make sure that they are not complicit in human rights
abuses.

Labour Standards
• Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association
and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
• Principle 4: The elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory
labour;
• Principle 5: The effective abolition of child labour; and
• Principle 6: The elimination of discrimination in respect of employ-
ment and occupation.

Environment
• Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach
to environmental challenges;
• Principle 8: Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmen-
tal responsibility; and
• Principle 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of environ-
mentally friendly technologies.

Anti-corruption
• Principle 10: Business should work against all forms of corruption,
including extortion and bribery.

Business Ethics & Human Rights

Human rights as defined by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Hu-
man Rights (UDHR) involve “...recognition of the inherent dignity
and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human
family...the dignity and worth of the human person

What is the relationship between business ethics and human rights?

Attention to human rights has been shown to have a positive im-
pact on business performance through improved stakeholder rela-
tions, positive corporate reputation and brand image, and employee
motivation and retention.
What of the link with business ethics? The IBE defines business
ethics as “the application of ethical values to business behaviour”
i.e. the way business is done. A commitment to both business
ethics and human rights will be driven by values such as: dignity,
justice, fairness, equality, respect, and responsibility.
‘Doing business ethically’ necessarily involves respecting human
rights in the course of business operations. A company that is wish-
ing to be considered as ethical will need to be mindful of human
rights. This may be limited to avoiding human rights violations or
take the wider approach of protecting and promoting human rights
in business operations.

Inspite of this, IBE research (2012) found that only half of F

TSE100 companies (52%) explicitly consider human rights in their
code of ethics in some way. Most corporate codes of ethics address
issues like anti-discrimination, harassment and bullying, equal op-
portunities, and respecting diversity, to name a few; all of which
are addressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A
number of core issues considered core to business ethics, particu-
larly those that are labour and employment related, sit within a hu-
man rights agenda. The latter may be viewed as one particular
framework for approaching such business ethics issues.
Pressures and drivers on business to respect human rights
The ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ duties to protect human rights are still
firmly with national governments(5). However, trends such as glob-
alisation and the increasing presence of multinational
corporations(6), pressures from NGOs, and reputation risk manage-
ment, has meant there are increasing
expectations of business.

The 52 FTSE100 companies found by the IBE to address human

rights in some way in their code of ethics, most commonly did so
through a statement of support, a commitment to uphold or a dec-
laration of signature to one or more internationally recognised hu-
man rights standards. The most frequently cited were the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights; the UN Global Compact; the ILO Core
Conventions; the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human
Rights; and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

Another common approach is to integrate the company’s commit-

ment to respect human rights into various sections of its code ad-
dressing commitments to employees and local communities.

Some companies also have a separate human rights policy or mis-

sion statement; including those who do not consider human rights
in their code. This is usually published as part of a corporate re-
sponsibility/ sustainability report or on their website.

Employee training helps raise awareness of human rights is-

sues, and embed corporate values and commitments into decision
making and behaviour. Training on human rights can be stand
alone or integrated into general business ethics training.
 Assessing human rights impacts is identified in the UN Guiding
Principles as part of the human rights due diligence process. Com-
panies need to know where through their operations and business
relationships they have actual and potential human rights impacts
and the extent of these. It is particularly important for companies
to be aware of any indirect impacts or complicit human rights viola-
tions. Assessing human rights impacts may be integrated into exist-
ing company procedures or be a stand-alone Human Rights Impact
Assessment (HIRA).
Stakeholder engagement is a critical part of assessing human
rights impacts, allowing companies to identify the concerns or op-
portunities of parties potentially affected by their operations and
business relationships.
Integrating human rights considerations into due diligence of
suppliers and third parties to help avoid against complicity in hu-
man rights abuses.