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Working conditions, privacy violations, pollution, forced labour in supply chains... not a day goes by without a company being called to account for alleged bad practices related to human rights. 

While the responsibility of companies in this area is now accepted, we have witnessed in recent months an increase in the importance of these issues: new legal obligations, new expectations of business partners, investors, etc. We are at a turning point in the development of the law, in the definition of this responsibility of companies through the duty of care and in the crystallisation of societal expectations and the expectations of the company's stakeholders.  

Respect for human rights is no longer a "nice-to-have" or the fruit of certain "activists" in companies, but is gradually becoming the guarantee of the activities’ sustainability, of the acceptability and trust of employees, customers, communities and societies in which they operate.   

So what does it mean for a company to respect human rights? The dignity of the human person is at the heart of the definition of human rights. For companies, this means respecting others, ensuring that they provide a decent working environment, that they do not impact the health, safety and living conditions of the communities around their sites, and that they do not benefit from the exploitation of workers for their products and services. Companies must ask themselves about their human rights risks in every decision and make decisions based on the knowledge of the possible impacts on people. 

Which companies will make a difference tomorrow? It will be those that go beyond compliance. Feedback from the French law on duty of care has shown the risk of falling into strictly "tick the boxes" approaches without seeking to give meaning to them and to verify their deployment and effectiveness at operational level.    

A company that will make a difference is first and foremost a company that will give itself the means to promote a human rights culture in all its activities: definition of group commitments, involvement of managers, awareness raising and training for all, mobilisation and definition of the responsibilities of the various players within the company. Everyone has a role to play in the respect of human rights, if only by being a witness, questioning and alerting. 

It is a company that wants to know what is happening in its activities, that systematises risk identification processes upstream of projects, that formalises complaint and dialogue mechanisms for people potentially affected throughout its activities to prevent and react as quickly as possible in the event of an infringement. 

Respecting human rights is a humbling and continuous improvement process. The most mature companies are those that are able to understand the operational challenges, to go beyond standardised solutions and innovate, to question and re-question their practices.  

It is also a process of transparency. This requires exposing oneself and entering into dialogue with even the most critical stakeholders, especially the most critical ones...; creating bridges between actors who may have divergent immediate interests; establishing confidence in the sincerity of the company's approach over time and before controversies arise. Anticipating, systematising processes and creating prevention reflexes help companies to react in the event of incidents.  

The companies that make the difference will also be those that manage to mobilise collectively, to create areas of collective influence with their peers and other players to advance practices in a sustainable manner.  

Companies no longer have a choice, integrating human rights into their policies and practices is necessary to manage their risks, providing assurance to their shareholders, investors and business partners and in the long term remain competitive. These are time-consuming processes that require changes in behaviour and companies cannot wait any longer. 

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To be read also in the dossier "Human Rights: A Call for Businesses to be More Vigilant"

• Rise of Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence
• Rights Denied Behind the Products we Buy
• Towards new responsibilities for companies in Luxembourg
• Putting Values into Practice