Published 06-24-10
Submitted by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
As representatives of over 1000 companies gather this week in New York at the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit, Realizing Rights and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre have published a list of over 270 companies worldwide known to have adopted a human rights policy statement (see full list below).
During 2009-2010 Mary Robinson (President of Realizing Rights, former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) wrote to the CEOs of 100 companies, encouraging them to adopt a human rights policy if they had not already done so. The firms contacted are headquartered in: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Ghana, India, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania and Turkey. Many responded with an existing policy or intentions to develop one.
Every company human rights policy statement known to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre is featured on its website:
www.business-humanrights.org/ToolsGuidancePortal/Policies
Those with policies include firms as diverse as Anadolu Efes (beverages, Turkey), Cerrejón (coal, Colombia), Ericsson (telecommunications, Sweden), Mitsubishi (automotive & other, Japan), Pfizer (pharmaceuticals, USA).
Mary Robinson said, "Business increasingly recognises the importance of respecting human rights. Human rights provide an internationally-accepted, comprehensive framework for managing a company’s impacts on workers, communities, and broader society. I congratulate those firms with policies and encourage others to follow suit." Mary Robinson further elaborates on the importance of human rights policies in a statement issued this week, available here.
John Ruggie, UN Special Representative on business & human rights, recommends that companies adopt a human rights policy. Doing so is the first step in the "due diligence" process for respecting human rights that he has developed "“ followed by human rights impact assessments, implementation, and tracking/reporting performance.
The Resource Centre website links to guidance for business on developing a human rights policy, and to specially-written commentaries by experts who make the case for corporate human rights policies. They include:
Faris Natour, Director Research & Innovation, Business for Social Responsibility: "The vast majority of companies around the world still have not taken the simple first step of adopting a human rights policy. The time is right for these companies to do this, and there are many free resources to get started."
If your company has a human rights policy statement, or adopts one in the future, please contact Business & Human Rights Resource Centre so that it can be added to the list:
Companies known to have adopted a human rights policy statement* (as of June 2010)
ABB | Ericsson | Novo Nordisk |
Abbott Laboratories | Eroski | Novozymes |
Aberdeen Asset Management | ExxonMobil | O2 |
ABN Amro | FCC | Occidental Petroleum |
ACS | Ferrovial | OceanaGold |
Aegon | Ford | OMV |
AGF | Fortis | Oz Minerals |
Aker Solutions | Freeport-McMoRan | Pentland |
Akzo Nobel | Friends Provident | Pepsico |
Alcan | Fujifilm Holdings | Persimmon |
Alcatel-Lucent | Fujitsu | Petrobras |
Alcoa | GDF | PetroCanada |
Alliance Boots | General Electric | Pfizer |
Alstom | General Motors | Philips |
Anadolu Efes | GlaxoSmithKline | Posco |
Anglo American | Gold Fields | Premier Oil |
ANZ Bank | Goodyear | PricewaterhouseCoopers |
Aramex | Group 4 Securicor | Procter & Gamble |
ArcelorMittal | Gucci | Prudential |
Areva | Halliburton | Rabobank |
Arla Foods | Handelsbanken | Reckitt Benchiser |
ArmorGroup | HBOS | Reebok |
ASN Bank | Henkel | Repsol YPF |
Associated British Foods | Hess | Rexam |
AstraZeneca | Hilton | Ricoh |
Aviva | Hitachi | Rio Tinto |
Balfour Beatty | Holcim | RitzCarlton |
Banco Bradesco | HP | Roche |
Banco do Brasil | HSBC | Royal Bank of Scotland |
Barclays | Hydro | Royal Caribbean Cruises |
Barrick Gold | Iberdrola | SABMiller |
BASF | Ikea | Sanofi Aventis |
Bayer | Imperial Tobacco | Sara Lee |
BayernLB | Implats | Sasol |
BBVA | Indian Oil | SCA |
BG Group | ING | Securitas |
BHP Billiton | Intel | Seven & I Holdings |
BMW | InterContinental Hotels | Sharp |
Boeing | International Power | Shell |
Bonnier Group | ISS | Siemens |
Bouygues | Japan Tobacco | Signet |
BP | JFE Holdings | Skanska |
Brambles | Johnson Matthey | Smiths Group |
British Airways | KBC Group | Société Générale |
British American Tobacco | KfW | Sodexo |
BT Group | Kimberly-Clark | Sompo Japan Insurance |
Cable & Wireless | Kinross | Sony |
Cadbury | KPN | Sprint Nextel |
Cadbury Schweppes | Lafarge | Standard Chartered |
Carrefour | Lagardère | Stagecoach |
Casino | Lego | Starwood Hotels & Resorts |
Cemex | Levi Strauss | Statoil |
Centrica | Lihir Gold | Stora Enso |
Cerrejón | Linde Group | Sumitomo Electric Industries |
Chevron | Lloyds TSB | Sumitomo Trust & Banking |
Chiquita | Lonmin | Sun Microsystems |
Chubu | Lundin Petroleum | Syngenta |
Cisco Systems | L'Oreal | Taisei |
Citigroup | Man Group | T&D Life |
Coca-Cola | Marks & Spencer | Talisman |
Codelco | Marriott | Tata |
Colgate-Palmolive | Marubeni | Taylor Wimpey |
Commercial International Bank | Mazda Motor | Telecom Italia |
Commerzbank | McDonald's | Telefónica |
Compass Group | Merck | TeliaSonera |
ConocoPhillips | Microsoft | Tesco |
Continental | Mitchells & Butlers | Timberland |
Control Risks | Mitsubishi | Tokyo Electric Power |
Co-operative Bank | Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings | Tom's of Maine |
Cosmo Oil | Mitsubishi Electric | Tomkins |
Crédit Agricole | Mitsui | Toshiba |
Credit Suisse | Mizuho Financial Group | Total |
DaimlerChrysler | Mobilnil | Tropical Cable & Conductor |
Danone | Monsanto | UBS |
De Beers | Morgan Stanley | Unilever |
Dell | Motorola | United Technologies |
Deutsche Bahn | National Grid | Vale |
Deutsche Telekom | Naouri Group | Vattenfall |
Diageo | NEC | Verizon |
DLH | Neste Oil | Vodafone |
DnB Nor | Nestlé | Volvo |
Dow Chemical | Newmont | Westpac |
DuPont | Nexen | Weyerhaeuser |
E.ON | Nippon Express | Whitbread |
EADS | Nippon Yusen | Wolseley |
EDF | Nokia | WPP |
EMI | Nomura Holdings | Xerox |
Enagás | Nordea | Xstrata |
Encana | Novartis | Yara |
Endesa | Novo Group | Yell |
ENI |
*Companies participating in the UN Global Compact (UNGC) commit to ten principles, including principles one and two on human rights. On this list we do not include all UNGC participants, only companies that have a separate commitment to human rights (for example within a company code of conduct or as a stand-alone human rights policy). Incorporating human rights into company policies is one of the recommendations in the UNGC document, "Help Mark the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights".
The list does not include policy statements that refer/apply only to a company’s suppliers or employees.
The Resource Centre is an independent non-profit that promotes greater awareness and informed debate about human rights issues relating to business. Our website is updated hourly with news and reports about companies’ social and environmental impacts worldwide, including alleged abuses, positive steps, and company responses to concerns raised about their conduct. The site has sections on over 4000 companies. It also includes special resources such as all materials issued by the UN Special Representative on business & human rights; a list of companies with human rights policies; profiles of lawsuits against companies. Mary Robinson is Chair of our International Advisory Network. Visit the website for further details and to sign up for free Weekly Updates. See website for contact details of our New York office and team members in Hong Kong, India, South Africa, UK, Ukraine, USA
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