Global Governance Watch^©

Features

Introduction

During the past few decades, with limited success, the United Nations Secretariat, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN human rights treaty committees, activists, non-governmental agencies, and foundations have encouraged national governments to protect and promote human rights. However, it has become clear that national governments no longer have the resources to fund the realization of economic rights, such as the right to housing, the right to education, the right to work, the right to social security, the right to a clean and safe environment, and the right to health. As a result, the UN human rights system and its supporters are now expecting transnational corporations to "respect" human rights, which, depending on one's perspective, can mean anything from obeying national laws protecting the civil and political rights of citizens to the limitless funding of a broad range of ambiguous economic, social, and cultural rights. This section covers the UN's growing "business and human rights" agenda, which works in the context of a complex adaptive matrix of human rights governance networks.

UN-ESG

As international, non-governmental, and civil society organizations attempt to hold businesses accountable for respecting and fulfilling human rights, to monitor corporate compliance, international standards have been developed. International standards, such as the Global Reporting Index (“GRI”) and ISO 26000, are now used to measure corporate adherence to international human rights, labor, and environmental standards in their product development, business operations, and supply chains. Human rights activists are now pressuring national governments to move from voluntary to mandatory corporate reporting on non-financial matters. This focus area examines current trends in corporate reporting standards and their increasing adoption by governments and businesses alike in the face of mounting pressure from international human rights governance networks.

Documents

Resources

Commentary

UN-ESG

NGO Criticizes Conflict Minerals Reporting as Insufficient

July 10, 2014

As U.S. companies release their first legally required reports on the use of "conflict minerals" from war-torn areas in Africa in their products, the nongovernmental organization ("NGO") Global Witness has complained that these reports do not sufficiently assess companies' use of these minerals.
Unilever Commits to International BHR Standards

June 23, 2014

Consumer goods company Unilever has announced that it will report on its progress in implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ("BHR") in its operations and that it will produce impact assessments reviewing activities in its supply chain.
ECCJ Seeks Stricter Corporate Reporting Requirements

June 20, 2014

Despite praising the EU non-financial reporting directive as a "significant step" toward requiring business human rights and environmental reporting, the European Coalition for Corporate Justice ("ECCJ") indicates the EU and member states should tighten requirements on businesses to report on these issues.
LSEG Joins UN Sustainability Initiative

June 19, 2014

The London Stock Exchange Group ("LSEG") has announced that it will join the UN Sustainable Stock Exchange initiative, which seeks "sustainable" investment opportunities and corporate reporting on environmental, social, and corporate governance issues.

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