Increasingly, investors are becoming interested in understanding to what extent companies are respecting human rights, and whether their efforts are likely to improve the lives of affected people. A good place to start is by reading a company’s human rights disclosure. But company reports are often hard to analyze. On the surface, many companies will seem to be doing the right thing. But, how can investors tell whether what they are reading is meaningful and in line with what the UN Guiding Principles expect? This collection of resources was designed by Shift to help investors apply a people-centered approach to gain deeper insights from company disclosure.
In particular, this resource uses examples from companies’ reporting their targeted action. It examines:
- Whether the company only reports generally on its process for identifying and addressing human rights impacts;
- Whether the company reports on how the perspectives of affected stakeholders informed its understanding of the impact and its decisions on what action to take;
- Whether the company talks about engagement with suppliers or other business partners on human rights-related issues in terms of compliance.
