Human Rights First
“The 2015 Human Rights First Summit, held December 9 at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., featured experts who sought to answer difficult questions on how to combat human trafficking…a diverse panel of experts…moderated by Ariel Meyerstein, Vice President of Labor Affairs at the United States Council for International Business (USCIB)—delved deeper into the issue.”
USCIB will participate in three events next week about corporate responsibility and human rights. For more information and registration details, please contact USCIB Vice President Ariel Meyerstein (ameyerstein@uscib.org).
The Corporate Counsel Innovation Summit
Monday, December 7, 2015
New York
The Financial Times’ Innovative Lawyers General Counsel Summit will build on the success of last year’s inaugural summit and focus on the implications of a changing landscape. For in-house lawyers, most often at the forefront of innovation, how should related challenges be met and how will the in-house role change as a result? Meyerstein will speak on a panel about the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)
The UNGPs are a global framework for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse impacts on human rights linked to business activity. John F. Sherman III, General Counsel, Company Secretary and Senior Adviser at the Shift Project, will lead a panel to discuss what this global framework means for GCs and the responsibilities it places on lawyers.
The Human Rights First Summit
December 9, 2015
Washington, D.C.
Modern-day slavery is a global problem that taints many of the products we use every day. How can the United States work with businesses and other governments to eradicate human trafficking from supply chains?
More than 14 million people are exploited for labor worldwide, many of them buried deep within the supply chains of global businesses. Nearly four years ago California enacted a law that requires retailers and manufacturers to disclose if they have policies to prevent trafficking in their supply chains. Yet these policies aren’t adequately compelling companies to ensure that their suppliers protect vulnerable workers.
There are, however, a few successful non-regulatory initiatives. The Electronics Industry Citizen Coalition (EICC) has a progressive code of conduct that all members must follow. The Fair Labor Association has pulled responsible businesses, civil society and universities together to establish better policies to protect vulnerable workers in supply chains. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) incentivizes suppliers who score well on sustainability standards—including preventing forced labor—by offering lower lending rates. Are these models sustainable? Could they be applied more broadly within their own industries or scaled up and replicated in other industries? What can the United States do to ensure that the gains from these programs are sustainable? Meyerstein will moderate a panel discussion that addresses these questions.
Registration and the full program agenda is available here.
OECD In-Depth: G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance
December 11, 2015
Washington, D.C.
In a landmark decision, the G20 Leaders endorsed the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance as an indispensable and globally recognized standard for assessing and improving corporate governance. The Principles have been developed under the auspices of the OECD, convening the expertise of policy makers, regulators, business and other stakeholders from around the world.
USCIB will co-host an informal roundtable discussion of the Principles and a conversation about how corporate governance in today’s equity markets can facilitate corporate access to finance, unlock investment, and boost sustainable economic growth.
The 4th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights got underway this week in Geneva, convening hundreds of government officials, business leaders, civil society representatives and representatives from the UN and other international organizations to track progress and promote policy coherence around business and human rights, specifically the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
The Guiding Principles, which were prepared under the stewardship of former UN special representative on business and human rights John Ruggie, established a framework under which states are obligated to protect and fulfill the human rights of those in their jurisdiction, while businesses, both foreign and domestic, are responsible for respecting these rights throughout their operations. The principles also propose a framework for greater access to effective remedy for human rights victims.
Prior to the forum, the business community issued a statement supporting respect for human rights as a critical component of implementing the UN’s recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals. USCIB co-signed the document along with nine other business organizations.
Ariel Meyerstein, USCIB’s vice president for labor affairs, corporate responsibility and corporate governance, is attending the forum in Geneva along with USCIB members. On November 16, he participated in a business pre-meeting hosted by the Canadian Embassy with other business associations including the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Organization of Employers, the UN Global Compact and many more. Also on Monday, Meyerstein spoke at a panel on “Unpacking the Guiding Principles in Investment Disputes.”
On November 17, Meyerstein will moderate a panel about “SME’s, Informality and Human Rights: Challenges and Solutions,” as well as serve as a panelist on a discussion about “Measuring and Tracking Businesses’ Implementation of the Guiding Principles” and another on “Access to Remedy – Roles and Responsibilities of States Concerned in Crossborder Cases.”
Videos of some of these panels will be made available on UN TV. More information will be forthcoming after the conclusion of the forum.
Several major international companies came together at the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva on October 28 to further formalize their commitment to promoting and including persons with disabilities throughout their operations.
All members of the Global Business & Disability Network, Accor, Adecco, AXA, Carrefour, Casino, Dow, L’Oréal, Michelin, Orange, Sodexo and Standard Bank were among the first signatories to the new ILO Global Business & Disability Charter and several more companies have expressed their intention to join them.
The network was created in 2010 by the ILO Bureau for Employers’ Activities (ACT/EMP) and the ILO Disability Team, with the goal of conducting international, regional and national level meetings and initiatives to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in businesses and to disseminate best practices. It has produced a tool for companies to self-assess their performance in a number of disability-related areas.
The Charter signed last week covers key areas such as non-discrimination, providing equal treatment and opportunities, job retention, accessibility and confidentiality. It also focuses on the importance of giving proper attention to all types of disabilities.
As a next step, the Charter will be provided to national employers’ federations and national business and disability networks as a channel for promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities in their own workforces and within member companies, large and small.
International Organization of Employers (IOE) Secretary General, Linda Kromjong, said, “Employers know from experience that inclusive and diverse workforces create a win-win situation for businesses and employees. Companies are encouraged to assess if signing this Charter will complement their overall strategy. The 11 companies signing today have already made this assessment.”
IOE Vice President for North America and USCIB Senior Counsel Ronnie Goldberg is a member of the Global Business & Disability Network’s steering committee.
Eleven major international companies have become the first signatories of the “ILO Global Business & Disability Network Charter” in a ceremony held at ILO headquarters in Geneva. The Charter expresses their commitment to promoting and including persons with disabilities throughout their operations worldwide.
It covers a wide range of areas, from protecting staff with disabilities from any kind of discrimination to making the company premises and communication to staff progressively accessible to all employees with disabilities.
The signing companies are: Accenture, AccorHotels, Adecco Group, AXA Group, Carrefour Group, Dow Chemical, Groupe Casino, L’Oréal, Orange, the Standard Bank Group and Michelin.
“The lack of equal employment opportunities for persons with disabilities often means lives of poverty and social exclusion,” said ILO Director General Guy Ryder. “By honoring the commitments of this Charter, the private sector will be showing real leadership in making it possible for people with disabilities to have productive work and to live in dignity.”
Ryder continued: “The first signatories to sign the Charter will help us spread a simple but essential message: employing persons with disability is not just a good moral cause, it is also good for business. This new Charter can also make a substantial contribution to realizing many goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development .”
Speaking on behalf of the signatories, the Network steering committee chairperson, Wendy Orr, said: “We are proud to be among the first companies to sign the Business Charter on Disability. This is one step further in demonstrating our commitment for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the labour market. We believe and have experienced how an inclusive and diverse workforce provides opportunities for employers, employees and society overall.”
Ronnie Goldberg, USCIB’s senior counsel, also sits on the Network steering committee.
All signatories are members of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network , which brings businesses together to promote disability inclusion by highlighting the business advantages of employing people with disabilities. It also facilitates the exchange of knowledge and good practices between companies, company networks and the ILO.
Created in 2010, the Network acts as a facilitator and responds to requests from members to develop tools, share knowledge, and facilitate business-to-business meetings and dialogues around disability issues. It combines the interests of the ILO employer constituents and of multinational enterprises.
Its steering committee is composed of representatives from eight multinational enterprises, a global organization representing people with disabilities and two employers’ organizations.
The Network has produced a self-assessment tool which allows companies to assess how well they are doing in a number of areas regarding disabilities.
The Charter will be provided to national employers’ federations and national business and disability networks as a way of promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities among their member companies, including small and medium size enterprises (SMEs).
The Network also benefits from the invaluable insight of people with disabilities themselves, thanks to a partnership with the International Disability Alliance (IDA) , a network of global and regional organizations representing people with disabilities.
In order to run companies sustainably, business leaders must have an awareness of human rights and corporate social responsibility issues and an understanding of how to confront them. Students in MBA programs across the country have recognized these as permanent features of a globalized business landscape. Yet there are still far too few outlets for students to gain practical experiences in corporate responsibility, including sustainability and human rights issues.
To address this gap, USCIB has partnered with the NYU Stern Business School to offer a summer fellowship program to students seeking professional learning opportunities in corporate responsibility, sustainability and human rights. USCIB is inviting member companies to participate in the 2nd year of the Business & Human Rights Summer Fellowship for Summer 2016. The fellowship program matches talented NYU Stern MBA students interested in corporate responsibility with USCIB members willing to provide a hands-on summer internship opportunity.
The fellowship also has a training component in which USCIB and Stern will cover major corporate responsibility and human rights issues and related skills, like human rights due diligence and corporate reporting. The training will introduce the fellows to expert practitioners so fellows can provide even more added value to companies upon arriving at the start of the summer.
Last year, two fellows interned with USCIB members PepsiCo and DirectTV Latin America. The fellows discuss their experiences in blog posts here and here, as well as in the video below:
The fellows had very substantive experiences, completing tasks through their internships that contributed directly to key business operations and strategy in the area of CSR, sustainability and human rights, which included:
Companies willing to host a fellow for a 10-week, paid position working on corporate responsibility, human rights or sustainability issues should contact Ariel Meyerstein.
More information is available in this FAQ about the fellowship.
The International Organisation of Employers (IOE) joined forces with its member the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) to organize the first Global Employers’ Summit in Bahrain from October 6 to 7 under the auspices of Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. At the summit, IOE leaders signed the Bahrain Deceleration, underscoring the business’s commitment to the United Nations 2030 Development Agenda.
Organized around seven panel sessions, high-level speakers led the interactive debates on several topics including the free movement of workers, trade and jobs, global youth unemployment, and business and human rights. Also high on the agenda was an exploration of how business can contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recently adopted by the UN General Assembly.
USCIB Senior Counsel Ronnie Goldberg attended the summit and unveiled USCIB’s Business for 2030 website, designed to showcase the private sector’s contributions to the UN SDGs. Part informative resource, part catalogue of business engagement, Business for 2030 features over 120 examples from 30 companies in over 100 countries of how businesses are helping to achieve 70 of the 169 SDG targets.
The Summit concluded with the signing of the Bahrain Declaration by BCCI Chairman Khalid Abdulrahman Almoaymed, and IOE President Daniel Funes de Rioja, reflecting the concrete commitment of the global employer community towards:
The declaration acknowledges the role business plays in contributing to the concerted global effort towards achieving shared progress and prosperity. It further reinforces business support for the SDGs, and represents a clear expression of readiness to cooperate at national and international levels to reach the global development targets. It goes on to mark a renewed commitment to engage with trade unions and all other stakeholders to contribute to more and better jobs, growth and prosperity, and provides reaffirmation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as a means to guide businesses as they seek to respect human rights throughout their operations.
In addition to contributions as speakers and moderators at the Summit, delegates from the International Organisation of Employers, including Goldberg, met in private session with Prince Salman to discuss the key role of business in the economic and social development of Bahrain.
The First IOE Annual Global Employers’ Summit will take place in Bahrain at the invitation of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) on October 6-7, 2015. This prestigious event will focus on key areas of interest to employers and companies operating in a global context. Registration Forms and the Program will be sent to you in due course. For more information, contact Matthias Thorns (thorns@ioe-emp.org)
Business leaders representing companies with operations in over 190 countries have thrown their weight behind the new UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The SDGs – launched at a major summit in New York during the UN General Assembly – set out a new vision for a brighter, safer and more prosperous world for all. In a letter to the Financial Times the business leaders wrote: “Many businesses are already playing a leading role in promoting sustainable development, but with the right support and incentives from government we can do much more. A collaborative effort is also required to enable the transformation of business practices towards sustainability more broadly – including within the small business sector.”
Commenting on the release of the letter, ICC Secretary General John Danilovich said: “This is a clear and visible demonstration of the business community’s commitment to the new Global Goals. We call on governments to work constructively with the private sector to deliver fully on the promise of the SDGs”.
The global economy has much to gain from the full empowerment of women. As arguably the world’s most underutilized resource, women are essential to increasing economic growth, establishing more just societies, improving quality of life for families and communities and boosting the profitability of enterprises.
Around the world, too many laws still discriminate on the basis of gender, with dramatic consequences on women’s ability to contribute to economic growth. To address these injustices, USCIB partnered with the United Nations Global Compact, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, the International Labor Organization, the World Bank Group and other organizations to “call upon Governments from around the world to bring down legal barriers restricting economic opportunities for women, and by doing so, help create an enabling environment for inclusive economic growth.”
The call to action was publicly launched on Saturday September 26 at the Private Sector Forum held during the UN General Assembly, the day after the UN Sustainable Development Goals were launched. A number of USCIB companies are actively involved in initiatives to fulfill Goal 5 of the SDGs, which is focused on empowering women and several others have taken a lead role in the UN Global Compact’s “Business for Rule of Law” initiative and other rule of law promotion activities.
USCIB has been active on women’s empowerment for some time. In March, USCIB co-organized an event titled “Bringing Down the Barriers: Women, Business and the Rule of Law,” held in parallel with the UN meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (CWS) and in support of the 2014 World Bank report on Women, Business and the Law, which evaluated the economic impacts of gender discrimination laws across the world. USCIB has also taken a lead role in authoring a number of reports with BIAC for the OECD’s work on empowering women.
Read more: Putting ALL Our Minds to Work: Women and Entrepreneurship