CSR Press Release

On December 10, 1948, when adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations called on member country governments to 'expound' the UDHR. Now, on the Declaration's 60th anniversary, responsibility for promoting human rights protections has expanded to include the business community. The UN codified this link in 2005 when it issued a mandate for a Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, and this year it extended the appointment of Harvard Professor John Ruggie to the post for another three years.

1990s activism awakened companies to the realization that they can be held accountable - legally as well as in the court of public opinion - for committing (and even for complicity in allowing) human rights abuses. Some companies have responded by creating human rights policies. The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), which hosts Special Representative Ruggie's web portal, tracks the number of companies with policies. In the lead-up to the UDHR anniversary, BHRRC partnered with Realizing Rights, a project of former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, to urge more companies to adopt policies. This effort upped the number from under 200 to more than 230 now - with more than half referencing the UDHR.

Of course, policies sometimes differ from practices. For example, Nestle is amongst the 230 companies with a human rights policy. The company is also amongst the five 'Scrooges' identified by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) for blocking worker unionization, a right enshrined in Article 23 Section 4 of the UDHR. ILRF identifies labor rights violations by Nestle in the Philippines, Colombia, Peru, Russia, and Pakistan. None of the other 'Scrooges' - Dole, Del Monte, Russell/Fruit of the Loom, and Wal-Mart - have human rights policies, according to the BHRRC list.

The problem, according to Arvind Ganesan of Human Rights Watch, is the voluntary nature of human rights policies at companies and standards for sectors. In December 2006, he wrote an essay published by Business for Social Responsibility provocatively entitled, Is 2007 the End of Voluntary Standards?, in which he enumerates the shortcomings that must be addressed to avoid the call for mandates. Now, two years after issuing this challenge, problems with the voluntary approach still persist, prompting Ganesan to call for government regulation of corporate human rights practices. In this week's Corporate Watchdog Radio ViewPoint commentary, Ganesan points out how disastrous self-regulation has proven in the finance sector, and urges US and EU governments to regulate companies on human rights to prevent yet another disaster. "We shouldn't have to wait for the 120th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights before we can talk about mandatory human rights rules for companies."

Here at CSRwire, we're honoring International Human Rights Day with a free screening of the Emmy-winning documentary Made in L.A., which follows the three-year struggle of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops to win basic labor protections from a trendy clothing retailer. The event at our Gasoline Alley offices supports SweatFree Communities, which advocates for the human rights of sweatshop workers. SweatFree Communities recently collaborated with the International Labor Rights Forum to make it easier for all of us to support a 'sweatfree' world by publishing the 2009 Shop with a Conscience Consumer Guide that lists 20 companies that produce clothing in accordance with international fair labor standards, as well as promoting clothing producers with workers organized into democratic unions or worker-owned cooperatives.