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The United Nations Global Compact, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative and the Global Reporting Initiative marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights with the collaborative project: “Human rights – A call to action” which aims to foster greater integration of human rights principles into corporate sustainability reporting. The objective of the project is to significantly improve companies’ understanding of how and why to publicly disclose policies and practice relating to human rights.
UN GC and Realizing Rights assembled a multi-stakeholder expert Working Group to shape greater consensus on what constitutes good human rights practice and measurement. The Working Group has met three times since late-2008 and has reached a consensus which has culminated in a report that is being submitted to the GRI governance bodies. In a next step the Working Group will work on a proposal for edits to the current version of the G3 Guidelines based on the report. The proposed edits will be posted for a 90 day public comment period according GRI’s due process in early 2010.
The project partners have also organized three multi-stakeholder workshops to date in Geneva, Buenos Aires and Seoul respectively. The workshop discussions informed the deliberations of the Working Group.
The efforts described above have also lead to the development of the following practical resources to help companies to improve their human rights reporting:
A Resource Guide to Corporate Human Rights Reporting (2009)
While a growing number of tools related to human rights and business provide useful guidance for companies, most do not provide detailed information on human rights reporting. This guide is intended to help companies begin a process of identifying human rights-relevant issues in their operations and to assist in translating these into meaningful and effective reporting.
The document is divided into three sections: Section 1 provides an overview of the evolving 'human rights and business' field; Section 2 discusses human rights reporting and looks at some of the key challenges and debates in this area; and Section 3 looks at the practical aspects of human rights reporting and offers helpful information for companies, including on how to choose a reporting focus from within the broad range of human rights, and how to approach the complex subject of complicity in human rights abuses as part of reporting.
Corporate Human Rights Reporting - An Analysis of Current Trends (2009)
This independent analysis, based on a review of 57 recent sustainability reports from companies representing a range of industry sectors, presents examples of encouraging trends in human rights reporting, as well as indications of key areas where there is room for improvement. The analysis was undertaken as part of a wider effort – Human Rights: A Call to Action – aimed at fostering improved understanding of how and why to publicly disclose policies and practice relating to human rights and how to embed this better understanding into global reporting standards.
More information?
For more information contact the GRI Technical Development Coordinator Bastian Buck (buck@globalreporting.org).
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