10 ways to develop a strong human rights culture

Multinational companies face increasing scrutiny of their human rights obligations and must now navigate a complex web of regulations, industry standards, and societal expectations to ensure their organizations respect human rights across operations and supply chains.

In this article, Content Innovation Lead and Enhesa human rights expert Marina Dorileo identifies the main points that companies need to consider and prioritize to ensure not only robust human rights compliance, but a culture of respect to human rights across the business and its relationships.

Human rights regulations and requirements: A brief background

Since the endorsement of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2011, there’s been a growing pressure for companies to implement measures that would make the business responsibility to respect human rights a reality.

Closely linked to this is the movement in several jurisdictions across the globe for the adoption of legislation to ensure the protection of human rights and make sure that businesses are held accountable for human rights violations in their operations and — most importantly — their value chains.

The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the fragility of global supply chains and the urgent need to address human rights risks and impacts within operations and business relationships. The demand for the disclosure of more and better information has increased, and several regulations concerning mandatory human rights reporting and human rights due diligence have been discussed and adopted in the past years.

However, respecting human rights goes beyond legal compliance. Its intrinsic moral underpinning has made human rights considerations a major influencing factor when it comes to regulatory requirements, corporate social responsibility, brand reputation, and sustainable business practices. Companies must make human rights an integral part of policies, operations, and culture — going beyond considerations regarding risk mitigation and brand reputation. After all, how a business addresses human rights goes a long way to reflect how the company contributes to global communities.

So, how do you go about developing a strong human rights culture for your business?

Here’s our top ten steps…

1. Understand the regulatory framework

The baseline and starting point to build a strong culture of respect for human rights is compliance, so becoming aware and ensuring compliance with the myriad regulatory instruments addressing human rights that apply to the company (directly and indirectly) is key.

It’s important to have systems in place to ensure the company’s monitoring compliance with local labor, anti-discrimination, and human rights laws in all the countries in which it operates. Organizations operating across multiple jurisdictions must be particularly aware of distinctions between countries — especially if standards fall short in some regions.

Guarantee a company-wide respect of human rights by must referring to internationally recognized human rights instruments, such as the standards from the International Labor Organization. This will ensure it respects minimum human rights standards.

2. Identify human rights risks throughout operations and the supply chain

Companies must be aware of potential human rights risks across the entire supply chain and operations. These risks include issues such as forced labor or child labor, potentially unsafe working conditions, and discrimination or harassment.

While regulations such as the EU directive on violence against women or differing acts aiming to combat child labor mean that companies are obliged to protect their workers from these risks, it’s also important to recognize that companies may not have a full overview of all potential human rights risks. They must therefore engage stakeholders, including employees, local communities, and non-governmental organizations, in the risk assessment process to gain deeper insights.

3. Develop and implement policies

Companies need to ensure they have a comprehensive human rights policy in place, and that it’s passed to its business partners.

The first step in developing policies to ensure the company is able to protect and promote human rights is to draft or update a human rights policy that’s consistent with international human rights standards. The next step is to integrate human rights commitments into documents such as employee codes of conduct, supplier and vendor agreements, and partner and contractor obligations. At this stage, it’s also helpful to consider how any or all of these policies and documents could support the mitigation of any risks identified during the risk assessment process.

4. Build internal capacity and human capital

It’s not safe to assume that everyone employed by the company is aware of their own and others’ human rights. Instead, the company needs to ensure everyone in the company — and preferably across its supply chain — has been suitably trained to understand human rights. This must include knowledge of the company’s obligations to employees, customers, communities, and other stakeholders.

5. Strengthen supply chain due diligence

New regulations, such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, mandate human rights due diligence across the company’s chain of activities. The Directive aims to ensure that companies identify, prioritize, prevent, mitigate, and remediate any adverse impact related to human rights. This applies across company operations, extending to subsidiaries and business partners — including suppliers. This means companies need to have systems in place to check that suppliers are adhering to human rights standards, including regular audits and mechanisms to trace and verify the ethical sourcing of materials and labor conditions.

6. Create accessible complaint mechanisms

Companies must implement clear channels for employees, contractors, supply chain workers, and community members to confidentially report human rights violations and company wrongdoing or complicity. This must factor in protection for whistleblowers — a topic now enshrined in law in many jurisdictions — as well as channels to present grievances. In multinational companies, it’s particularly important to ensure complaint processes are culturally sensitive and accessible in all operational regions.

7. Monitor and report progress

Regular audits and assessments are essential to ensure the human rights measures implemented are effective and addressing the potential risks and violations. Companies can also demonstrate their accountability by publishing transparent human rights impact reports.

8. Engage in multi-stakeholder initiatives

Demonstrate transparency and commitment to human rights by joining industry collaborations and partnerships focused on human rights. These include international voluntary initiatives such as the UN Global Compact and business and worker group alliances like the Ethical Trading Initiative or the Fair Labor Association.

9. Stay alert and prepare for emerging challenges

The UN Declaration on Human Rights may be more than 70 years old, but human rights risks don’t stand still. Companies need to stay informed of evolving human rights risks, such as the impact of climate change on vulnerable communities and risks associated with new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Ensure company policies are adapted to address these emerging issues so they accurately reflect the needs of those affected.

10. Develop a culture of integrity

Companies must strive to foster a corporate culture that prioritizes human dignity and ethical practices. Company executives are well-placed to encourage company leaders to model respect for human rights in their decision-making. This will enable them to lead the company beyond mere compliance and into genuine commitment to human rights.

Protect your business by protecting human rights

The proliferation of human rights regulatory change is a clear indicator of governing bodies’ drive to align legislation with public expectation and demand. As the regulatory landscape continues to shift further toward one of sustainability and responsibility, now is the time for businesses to get ahead of the change by ensuring they’re taking human rights as seriously as the regulators and the public.