1. Growing Good Business: Making Business and Human Rights Your Business
16 September 2016

2. BHR – An Overview
To what extent does a business impact people around the world?
Area has grown gradually, but particular focus from 2011.
United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011)
Non-binding, but UN-endorsed
Three pillars – “Protect, Respect, Remedy”
State duty to protect Human Rights
States must set out clear expectations on Human Rights and prevent/investigate/punish/redress abuses
Corporate responsibility to respect Human Rights
Businesses need to “know and show” that they comply with human rights standards
At a minimum: International Bill of Human Rights and ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, but others depending on circumstances (indigenous peoples, women, national/ethnic/religious minorities, children, people with disabilities, etc)
Access to remedy
States must take appropriate steps (judicial, legislative, administrative, …) to ensure that there is effective remedy when abuses occur within their territory
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3. The Business Case – in brief
Increasingly, businesses are expected to get this right +
Real consequences for businesses getting it wrong
____________________________________
= Profitable and growing opportunity for legal advisors
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4. Choosing Compliance
Many clients are voluntarily signing up to BHR codes
UN Global Compact
9,000+ businesses in 167 countries
OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
46 governments (85% of foreign direct investment) encourage their enterprises to observe these
Principles of Responsible Investment
Signatories include 317 asset owners, 1,024 investment managers, and 210 professional service partners
These can then carry binding consequences!
Different sectors establishing what BHR requirements mean in practice
JAC (Joint Audit Cooperation) – 10 major telecom operators
Development banks / “Ethical” banks
Oil & Gas – Shell, BP etc highly sophisticated in this area and including these principles in Partnership Agreements and other project contracts
Commercial sector – e.g. Apple’s contracts with telecoms
May start as a DD / supply chain issue, but failures make it a legal issue
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5. But aren’t these standards non-binding?
Indirect / long-term aspect:
National Action Plans (NAPs)
National Contact Points (NCPs)
Proposal to make a binding treaty on BHR
Direct aspect:
UK Modern Slavery Act 2015
 Statements by 6 Indian companies
California Transparency in Supply Chains Act
UK Companies Act ss.414 A-D
S.414(C)(7)(b): strategic report to include, "to the extent necessary for an understanding of the development, performance or position of the company's business… information about environmental matters, the company's employees, and social, community and human rights issues", including information about any policies of the company in relation to those matters and the effectiveness of those policies.
Possibility of fines for anyone involved in the business / report
This is becoming “the law” – and as such, it is something lawyers need to know about
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6. What price for a reputation?
Reputational risk – countless examples
Nike, Apple, Samsung, Sony and countless others
Big payouts
Shell (£55m for community livelihoods impacted by Nigerian Bodo oil spills)
Adidas (agreed to pay £1.8m in unpaid severance owed to Indonesian factory workers after pressure from US universities, including University of Wisconsin who filed a breach of contract claim for Adidas’ failure to comply with anti-sweatshop provisions.
How do you measure?
E.g.
Core driver of market cap growth – 36% of the value of the FTSE 350 reputation-based
Combined value of reputations at the start of 2016 = £790 billion
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7. Law firms as businesses and advisors
Adopting and implementing a human rights policy (including training)
Understanding how business impacts human rights
Understanding the constraints of professional obligations
Using leverage through our work
Reporting publicly
As advisors:
Understanding the GPs and what States and companies are doing to implement them
Human Rights Due Diligence/Environmental Impact Assessment
Incorporation of standards into contracts
Contractual provisions
Public reporting requirements
Risk management and corporate management
Negotiations with or on behalf of governments
Dispute resolution (creating mechanisms and adjudicating them)
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8. From Theory to Practice
First step is raising awareness – for clients, but also within a firm, as BHR issues offer a high potential for future work
What kind of activities?
Lectures for clients – either public or individual
Hosting talks / seminars by academics / other speakers
Annual attendance at the UN Forum on Business & Human Rights and other events
Briefings on significant developments
Internal training
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