Archives: Resources

Addressing Sector-Wide Risks Through Negotiated Covenants in the Netherlands

Seven agreements have been signed as part of this process: garment and textile | banking | gold | natural stone (pilot) | food products | insurance | pension funds |

Shift is pleased to be providing expert support to the SER, and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as part of a pioneering process that has brought together companies, governments, unions and civil society, across key business sectors, to try to prevent human rights risks and ensure responsible business conduct in critical global value chains.

The process also seeks to address environmental impacts, corruption and taxation practices and other negative impacts covered by the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

“In our work on fostering sustainable supply chain management among Dutch industry, Shift has been extremely helpful in elevating the policy discussion and business practice in the area of business and human rights. The Shift team’s unique combination of strategic policy advice and practical experience with companies and other stakeholders has been invaluable to our work.”  

Mariëtte Hamer, President, Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands

This work is being undertaken in close collaboration with the SER – the advisory and consultative body of employers’ representatives, union representatives and independent experts that has been fostering sustainable supply chain management among Dutch industry since 2008. | See our explanatory note on prioritization of human rights risks prepared for the SER

In each sector, parties have identified severe risks that they are facing and developed individual commitments and collaborative approaches to address them. With the support of Shift, the SER has developed guidance -contained in its Advisory Report– to help parties ensure that the measures developed are credible, and aligned with international standards.

The expectation is that parties:

  • Use credible methodologies, aligned with leading international frameworks, to identify sector-wide human rights, environmental, corruption and related risks;
  • Identify collaborative approaches to building and exercising the leverage of sectors and their stakeholders to address such risks;
  • Involve relevant stakeholders in credible, dialogue-based multistakeholder processes.

Shift has played a key role in building the capacity of all parties to play their envisioned roles as leaders, participants and conveners of a credible process aiming to assess and address sector-wide risks. This support has included workshops for a number of sector associations, together with expert stakeholders, held in The Hague and hosted by the SER. | Learn more about how Shift facilitates multistakeholder dialogue on business and human rights

Over the past years, Shift has also supported implementation of a number of specific agreements, most notably the Dutch Banking Sector Agreement. Our support to the parties involved in that agreement has included:

  • Facilitating a workshop on human rights reporting, which led to the issuance of the first human rights reports by ING and Volksbank (Dutch) and of a second report by ABN AMRO.
  • Providing expert input and leading the drafting of paper capturing learning from the “enabling remedy” working group, which among other themes, included exploring the concept of a “remedy ecosystem.”
  • Supporting the “value chain mapping” working group by helping to shape its methodology and facilitating the process for the cocoa value chain mapping and part of the process for the palm oil value chain mapping.

In 2017, the Dutch Government recommitted itself to the process and is scheduled to undertake an evaluation in late 2019. The coalition agreement includes a provision to consider binding measures in case insufficient progress is deemed to be made. Shift looks forward to being a part of the evaluation process and discussions about what more is needed.

To learn more about the Sector Agreements, click here.

Shift and Former UN Human Rights Chief to Advise the International Olympic Committee on Developing a Human Rights Strategic Framework

New York, NY. – Shift Co-Founder Rachel Davis has joined efforts with former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, to support the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in developing a strategic framework on human rights.

Rachel Davis and Prince Zeid will be working hand-in-hand with high-level IOC officials to conduct an in-depth assessment, informed by internal and external stakeholder consultation. Together, they will deliver high-level, strategic recommendations to the President and Executive Board of the IOC to set the foundation of a comprehensive human rights strategy and future work of the Human Rights Advisory Committee.

Since 2018, Shift has supported the IOC’s ongoing efforts to address human rights challenges, including those connected to bidding and candidature processes for the Olympic Games, and to the IOC’s role as the leader of the Olympic Movement.

Shift is driven by its commitment to play an objective, critical and transformative role in sport, and will continue to work side-by-side with other stakeholders to promote meaningful change in the sector.

To learn more, visit our dedicated page on Sports and Human Rights.

Doing Business with Respect for Human Rights (Spanish)

This guide is also available in English.

Hacer Negocios Respetando los Derechos Humanos es una guía completa para las empresas de todos tamaños, industrias y lugares. Está dirigida al personal de las empresas que quieren saber más sobre cómo los derechos humanos son relevantes para el negocio, qué es lo que se espera que las empresas puedan hacer acerca de ello y cómo hacerlo.

Las organizaciones de la sociedad civil, iniciativas de la industria y múltiples partes interesadas, inversionistas y otras organizaciones que trabajan directamente con las empresas también encontrarán la guía útil para entender lo que se espera de las empresas cuando se trata de respetar los derechos humanos de las personas en sus actividades y relaciones de su empresa.

La guía provee a los lectores con consejos prácticos y ejemplos reales. Dispone de puntos de orientación, dificultades a evitar y sugerencias para las pequeñas y medianas empresas. También cuenta con importantes ejemplos de políticas y prácticas de otras compañías, aborda los temas de discusión actual como los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible (ODS) y responde a preguntas como: “¿Qué ganancia obtienen las empresas al respetar los derechos humanos? ¿Qué puede hacer mi empresa acerca de los impactos que ocurren en la cadena de valor? ¿Cómo puede mi empresa realizar una participación significativa de las partes interesadas?”

Esta segunda edición incluye las perspectivas de las empresas, así como de organizaciones de la sociedad civil y se basa en lo aprendido de los seminarios realizados en Indonesia, México, Sudáfrica y Turquía.

Human Rights Reporting in the Canadian Mining Sector

In January 2018, Canada’s Ministry of Trade announced the creation of an independent ombudsman—the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE)—to investigate human rights abuses connected to Canadian corporate activity abroad. Additionally, the Ministry enacted a multi-stakeholder Advisory Body to the government and CORE to advise on responsible business conduct abroad.

In light of these developments and the mining sector’s human rights track record, our team has engaged in research analyzing the human rights disclosure of a group of 18 Canadian mining companies (traditional mining companies, along with a number of streaming and royalty companies). Using Shift’s unique maturity methodology, our research revealed strengths and weaknesses of the sector’s reporting trends, which informed our key recommendations. However, the findings and recommendations of this report may have wider-reaching implications for mining companies beyond Canada as well. Undoubtedly, analysis of the Canadian mining sector’s human rights disclosure can be a significant entry point for addressing human rights disclosure, and underlying human rights performance, of the mining industry globally.

Tackling Modern Slavery through Financial Sector Leverage

This briefing paper was commissioned by the United Nations University, as part of the Liechtenstein Initiative for a Financial Sector Commission’s efforts to push beyond the boundaries of compliance towards creative financial sector action to prevent and address modern slavery and human trafficking.

Senior Advisor David Kovick and Managing Director, Rachel Davis provide observations and specific examples of what implementation of the UNGPs and related efforts by financial institutions looks like in practice today, including leading approaches, recurring challenges and immediate opportunities.