Archives: Resources

Human Rights Reporting in France: Phase I (EN)

In the context of the new Duty of Vigilance Law, Shift’s “Human Rights Reporting in France” aims to evaluate the extent to which the new French legislation brings companies closer to the reporting expectations that were set by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

In Part I, Shift analyzes the maturity of human rights reporting pre plan de vigilance, by examining information from 2017 and early 2018. This report establishes a baseline against which we will evaluate improvement.

Human Rights Reporting in France Series

In the context of the new Duty of Vigilance Law, Shift’s “Human Rights Reporting in France” aims to evaluate the extent to which the new French legislation brings companies closer to the reporting expectations that were set by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This two-part study aims to uncover whether the French Duty of Vigilance Law would have any influence on the maturity of the companies’ public disclosure, as measured against the expectations of the UN GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS (UNGPs).

We hope the key findings from this study can guide companies towards better alignment with the intent of the Duty of Vigilance Law, and the UNGPs, as well as highlight opportunities for ensuring similar legislations fully achieve their intended impact.

Human Rights Reporting in France Introduction to the Series

In the context of the new Duty of Vigilance Law, Shift’s “Human Rights Reporting in France” aims to evaluate the extent to which the new French legislation brings companies closer to the reporting expectations that were set by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This two-part study aims to uncover whether the French Duty of Vigilance Law would have any influence on the maturity of the companies’ public disclosure, as measured against the expectations of the UN GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS (UNGPs).

We hope the key findings from this study can guide companies towards better alignment with the intent of the Duty of Vigilance Law, and the UNGPs, as well as highlight opportunities for ensuring similar legislations fully achieve their intended impact.

Evaluating Human Rights Performance

This short piece, by Georgie Erangey, explores how effective these ESG ratings, indices and benchmarks are likely to be in driving corporate attention and investment into respect for human rights given the content of the
indicators that they use.

Handbook for Lawyers on Business and Human Rights

This handbook, published by the International Bar Association, aims to assist lawyers who seek to integrate business and human rights considerations into the advice they provide to clients in relation to M&A and commercial transactions. The Handbook brings together in one place a diverse collection of educational resources relating to the roles and responsibilities of legal practitioners with respect to business and human rights, including background context and explanation, case scenarios, discussion exercises, frequently asked questions (FAQs), sample checklists and further reading and resources.

The Handbook builds upon the IBA’s Business and Human Rights Guidance for Bar Associations and its Practical Guide on Business and Human Rights for Business Lawyers (Guidance documents), adopted by the IBA Council in 2015 and 2016 respectively. The Guidance documents aim to support the work of bar associations and law societies with respect to business and human rights, and explore the implications of the UN Guiding Principles for lawyers. In late 2016, the IBA’s Business and Human Rights Working Group issued a Supplementary Reference Annex which provides more detail to support the Guidance documents.

Shift’s John Sherman supported the development of this guidance.

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Shift Submission on Potential Modern Slavery Act in Australia

Below is an excerpt from our submission to the Australian Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. Download the PDF to view the entire submission.

Also see: Our explanation of how the UK Modern Slavery Act compares to the expectations of the UN Guiding Principles

Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
PO Box 6021
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

May 19, 2017

Dear Committee Members,

We are pleased to write to you in response to the opportunity to comment on a potential Modern Slavery Act in Australia to tackle a pervasive and severe human rights abuse, which can often be involved with business activity. With the International Labour Organization estimating that 20.9 million people around the world are subjected to forced labor, with 90% of those exploited in the private economy, your leadership in initiating this inquiry is both welcome and timely.

Shift is the leading center of expertise on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the authoritative global standard on business and human rights, unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011. As a non-profit organization chaired by the author of the Guiding Principles, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Prof. John Ruggie, we work with businesses, governments, investors, regulators, civil society and other key stakeholders around the world to put the Guiding Principles into practice.

Given our experience, our submission will focus on the effectiveness of The Transparency in Supply Chains provision in the United Kingdom’s Modern Slavery Act (Section 54) and how the introduction of a similar measure in Australia could build on the strengths of that provision while also ensuring greater alignment with the Guiding Principles in the actions that businesses are expected to take. Specifically, a Modern Slavery Act in Australia should:

  1. Replicate the requirement in the UK Act for board level approval of, and a director’s signature on, a company’s slavery and human trafficking statement;
  2. Ensure that the senior level attention brought to the issue of modern slavery by this requirement supports the broader goal of businesses introducing and strengthening human rights due diligence processes that identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address all of their leading human rights risks, not only modern slavery. The Act should clarify that due diligence processes should focus on impacts in a company’s operations and business relationships throughout its value chain, not just on impacts at the level of first-tier suppliers;
  3. Ensure that businesses report on their broader human rights due diligence processes in their modern slavery and trafficking statements. The Act should highlight the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework as practical guidance for companies on how to meet the reporting requirement and ensure they are providing meaningful information when doing so…