The Business Case for Corporate Respect for Human Rights

Showing respect for human rights has long been an issue for companies. However, human rights initiatives were usually seen as the remit of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) departments. Our clients are now telling us that human rights risks are rising up the corporate agenda and increasingly treated as a compliance issue. In the first edition of our human rights video series Rachel Barrett and Hamish McAvaney discuss what is driving this trend, including:

• The proliferation of ‘soft law’ standards including the gamechanger – UNGPs: structured framework for managing human rights risks and impacts
• The transition from ‘soft law’ to ‘hard law’ such as the UK Modern Slavery Act and proposals in many other jurisdictions 
• The consequences of non-compliance including risk/brand damage, lack of access to finance, litigation and loss of investors