The Guide in summary 1. Overview – what is a human rights policy? It is a company’s public expression of its commitment to meet its responsibility to respect internationally recognized human rights standards. At a minimum, this means the rights set out in the International Bill of Human Rights and the principles concerning fundamental rights set out in the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work 2. Why respect human rights? All companies have a responsibility to respect human rights, which means to avoid infringing on the human rights of others and to address these impacts where they occur, as set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Companies that are participants of the United Nations Global Compact make a public commitment to respect and support human rights and comply with international standards Respecting human rights is the right thing to do Companies that respect human rights earn and secure their ‘social license to operate’, and avoid potentially costly company-community conflicts Companies that respect human rights may better anticipate and manage operational and regulatory risks, and are well poised to comply with future legal and regulatory requirements Companies that respect human rights may gain commercial benefits associated with good human rights practices, e.g., attracting investment, procurement, top-quality recruits and reputational benefits 3. Why develop a human rights policy? To provide a basis for embedding the responsibility to respect human rights through all business functions To respond to relevant stakeholder expectations To identify policy gaps and initiate a process that alerts the company to new areas of human rights risk To elaborate on the company’s commitment to respect and support human rights To build increased trust with external stakeholders and to start to understand and address their concerns To foster the development of in-house learning, management capacity and leadership on human rights issues To demonstrate international good business practice 4. Key Steps – the process behind the policy Developing a human rights policy can be a dynamic, though not always a predictable, process. Do not expect perfection at first. Many companies update their policies as they gain experience with identifying and addressing their human rights impacts Assign senior management responsibility to drive the process Involve cross-functional personnel (human resources, legal, procurement, security, etc.) in the process to build understanding, know-how and a sense of common purpose Identify and draw on internal and/or external human rights expertise Map existing company policies to identify human rights coverage and gaps Conduct a basic mapping of the company’s key potential human rights impacts Consult internal and external stakeholders to identify and respond to their expectations Communicate the policy internally and externally Reflect human rights policy in operational policies and procedures 4 5. What are the key components of a human rights policy? All policies – whether stand-alone or integrated – should at a minimum comprise: An explicit commitment to respect all internationally recognized human rights standards – understood, at a minimum, as the International Bill of Rights and the ILO’s Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Stipulations concerning the company’s expectations of personnel, business partners and other relevant parties Information on how the company will implement its commitment It may also contain: An overview of the steps taken to develop the policy Information on the company’s key human rights priority areas A description of how the company will deal with conflicts between international human rights principles and applicable host-government legal requirements A commitment by the company to “support” (i.e. contribute to the positive realization of) human rights A summary of those human rights (including labour rights and others) that the business recognizes as likely to be the most salient for its operations and information on how it will account for its actions to meet its responsibility to respect human rights 6. Next steps – Path to implementation Assessing the company’s human rights impacts and risk areas, including country analyses, new operation assessments and stakeholder consultation Integrating human rights throughout the company, looking at business processes, training, communication, management systems, etc. Taking action and tracking performance, including by identifying progress measurement indicators Communicating on how impacts are addressed Providing for or cooperating in remedying an adverse human rights situation that a company has caused or contributed to through legitimate processes, including establishing or participating in effective operational-level grievance mechanisms for individuals and communities that may be adversely affected by the company’s activities