Business affects all spheres of human life - from the relationship of the employer and employee, producer and consumer, to the relationship of business with the local community (people living in the territory where the enterprise operates). Therefore, companies must conduct their work in a manner that does not violate or adversely affect human rights, whether that be employees, members of the community, consumers or others.

There are many examples where companies, due to the lack of a corporate policy in the field of human rights and a procedure for assessing the impact of a company on human rights, suffered huge reputational losses.

"Nazi chic by Hugo Boss"

In the mid 90s. reports began to appear in the press that Hugo Boss supplied Nazi uniforms during World War II, using the labor of concentration camp prisoners. This article was published by The New York Times. The company did not deny the allegations.

But since it did not have more accurate data about its history, the company was unable to comment in detail. To overcome the reputational crisis, it was decided to hire a historian who would investigate the events of 50 years ago. The economic historian of the University of the Bundeswehr (Munich), Roman Köster, who was commissioned by the company to study, had to check rumors about the use of forced labor in the factories of the enterprise, the loyalty of the company to the Nazi regime, and also to find out whether its founder Hugo Ferdinand Boss was really a “personal tailor » Hitler.

In 2011, after the release of a study that confirmed many of the stated facts and revealed all the details, the company issued a formal apology. A statement posted on the company's website expressed deep regret over the suffering that befell those who had to work at the factory during the war years.

This is an example of how a direct violation of human rights by a company (using concentration camp labor) and contributing to the crimes committed by the Nazi regime (tailoring clothes for soldiers) led to negative consequences for the company even many decades after the violations themselves occurred.

In today's world, human rights violations by companies, either facilitating violations by third parties or benefiting from human rights violations, have negative consequences for companies much more quickly. These can be reputational losses, a boycott of the company by consumers, refusal of partners and investors to cooperate, the inability to attract talented employees to the company, litigation for damages, fines and other sanctions from the state, criminal prosecution of company leaders. As an example, Adidas and Nike have been accused of paying extremely low wages to workers in their supply chains who made clothes for the World Cup ($80 to $200 a month).

To minimize the risks of negative human rights impacts in their work, both at the company level and at the level of its subsidiaries and supply chains, companies adopt human rights policies and implement human rights due diligence. 

Responsible business behavior - start with a human rights policy

How companies ensure respect for human rights in their activities is not a universal recipe. However, there are general guidelines.

According to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Principle 15):

“To ensure that they meet their human rights obligations, businesses should implement policies and procedures that are appropriate for their size and operating environment, including:

(a) a policy of commitment to human rights obligations;

(b) a human rights due diligence process to identify, prevent, mitigate and report on human rights impacts or contributing to such impacts;

(c) procedures for redressing any adverse human rights impact that enterprises cause or contribute to.”

The Human Rights Policy can be adopted as a separate document or be part of another company document (Company Code of Conduct, Corporate Social Responsibility Policy, etc.). A company may have one human rights policy, but it may also have several policies on different human rights issues - a Diversity and Inclusion Policy, a Forced Labor Prevention Policy, a Policy against Sexual Harassment and Harassment in the Workplace, etc.

It is important that the human rights policy/policies:

- comply with basic international human rights standards;

- corresponded to the nature of the company's influence - the size of the company, type of activity, etc.;

- expressly include a statement by the company that it is committed to respect, protect and promote human rights and to make efforts not to be involved in human rights violations;

- included the company's expectations addressed to partners, customers, suppliers, regarding their respect for human rights.

Politicians in the field of human rights should not perform an exclusively nominal function and exist only on paper as some kind of formal indicator.

The involvement of a company's senior management is critical to ensuring that human rights are taken seriously throughout the company and that human rights become part of its corporate culture.

What are the key ingredients of a good human rights policy?

Pillar 1: Commitment to international human rights standards. A human rights policy should include a statement of commitment to international human rights standards that explicitly uses the words "human rights".

A good human rights policy should, at a minimum, refer to:

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; And

• Declaration of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on basic principles and rights at work.

Examples of language used by companies: 

Pillar 2: Workers' rights provisions

Human rights policy should include provisions on labor rights. In larger companies, these issues may already be covered by existing employee codes of conduct. Nevertheless, giving special attention to this issue in the policy of human rights is an important component of it.

In this part, the level of detail in the language used by the company will vary. Some companies include a short proposal on key labor rights issues outlining their obligations. Others refer to other company documents, such as codes of conduct, for more information.

Some rights may require more detailed provisions if the company operates in a country where a particular right is known to be at particular risk, or a particular industry faces a very specific human rights issue. For example, in Kyrgyzstan the share of informally employed people is extremely high. It makes sense for companies to include in their human rights policy more detailed provisions on the inadmissibility of the use of informal labor in the work of the company.

Key human rights to be covered in a company's human rights policy:

• Non-discrimination and equality

• Child labor/minimum age of workers/elimination of the worst forms of child labor

• Protection from forced labor, modern slavery

• Freedom of association/collective bargaining

• Health and safety

• Decent working conditions, including working hours

• Fair salary/compensation

• Absence of rude or degrading treatment/harassment

• Accessibility for people with disabilities

• Maternity protection

• Right to strike

Pillar 3: Human Rights Priorities

Each company must determine for itself which of the internationally recognized human rights it prioritizes—whether because they pose unique challenges to the industry in which the company operates (e.g. the right to health, protection of privacy if the company provides medical services). ; the right to labor safety - for the extractive sector, etc.), or because the company does business in one or more places with a high level of risk (this may be special natural conditions or the threat of armed conflicts, etc.).

For example:

To raise awareness within the company that human rights risks may change as the situation evolves, the policy should also state that it will be subject to review.

It is also advisable to include in the human rights policy a provision on the company's expectations that its partners, suppliers, subsidiaries also show respect for human rights.

Next steps - the path to implementation

Developing a human rights policy is only the first step for a company to demonstrate that it respects human rights. Incorporating it into the relevant processes and procedures of the company is necessary to ensure its effective implementation.

A properly implemented human rights policy will guide the human rights due diligence process that a company needs to know and demonstrate that it respects human rights, which includes the following elements:

a) an assessment of the company's impact on human rights;

b) integrating assessment findings into relevant internal functions and processes to ensure effective prevention and mitigation of actual or potential adverse human rights impacts;

c) monitoring the effectiveness of the response to actual or potential adverse human rights impacts;

d) willingness to communicate how human rights impacts are being addressed; And

e) ensuring or helping to remedy negative human rights impacts that the company has caused or contributed to.

The key is to ensure that human rights policy becomes more than just a piece of paper that no one is looking at. Having a policy and doing nothing to implement it could potentially be worse than having no policy at all. Inaction or inappropriate action that is contrary to policy can expose a company to criticism from a variety of sources, not only from human rights NGOs, but also from those who monitor the integrity of its corporate governance. Therefore, implementation is critical.

This article is an element of an information campaign to promote human rights issues in the aspect of entrepreneurship in Kyrgyzstan within the framework of the UNDP project "Business and Human Rights" (B + HR), with the financial support of the Government of Japan.

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The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is one of the leading development organizations in Kyrgyzstan. Since 1993, we have been working in various areas, including inclusive development, environmental protection, crisis response, gender equality promotion, and collaborative efforts towards sustainable development goals.

Media Contact: Nurzhan Alymkanova, Communications Specialist, UNDP Nurzhan.alymkanova@undp.org