Human Rights and Business Ethics news and comment CCB 112
July 28, 2010
This edition, it is the report by Business in the Community that caught my eye. The report claims that racism is still stopping Britain’s ethnic minorities from entering well paid and high profile professions. Not only are there barriers to entering these professions, there are also barriers to the promotion and development of employees from minority backgrounds once they’ve made it in. Unfortunately, race remains only one of a number of issues (gender, sexuality, disability being others) that continue to effect talented individuals entering, and staying in, key professions.
This begs the question: Why are we still having these problems in 2010? What is it about the way that our society is constructed that still leads us to have concerns about glass ceilings, gender pay gaps, the lack of women in our boardrooms, or the lack of minorities in our government’s cabinet or other public sector jobs? Isn’t this all a bit old? I’m not undermining the importance of the issue – being an Indian woman I take this very seriously.
For all the policies and commissions that purport to address these issues, something’s clearly not working. Accountability for discrimination and institutional bullying needs to come from the top with clear repercussions for those that violate the rules. More also needs to be done in our schools and colleges to inspire our young people to think about entering into such roles and to ensure that they know there’s a choice for the taking.
The Big Society agenda needs to ensure that it focuses on creating access to opportunity in education and the workplace. The professions themselves are taking responsibility for opening access to employment – the legal profession for example is improving its activity on increasing the number of women partners and also looking at recruitment from “less privileged” backgrounds. Finally, the BITC report identifies the need for role models across sectors to provide the impetus to attract a new generation of business talent.
The onus ultimately lies on all of us; women, men, gay or straight, black or white to help develop the leaders of the future. If we want a society that reflects the richness of the individuals that live in it then we need to ensure that we go further than policies and papers and finally get on with it.
Deepa is a Consultant at Corporate Citizenship Email her at deepa.mirchandani@corporate-citizenship.com to discuss community investment, LBG, MDGs and public / private partnerships and all good things.
New reports from Institute for Human Rights and Business
The Institute for Human Rights and Business launched two reports on 22 June to coincide with the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit. The first, titled ‘The State of Play of Human Rights Due Diligence: Anticipating the Next Five Years’ reviews how human rights due diligence processes – involving developing policies, assessing impacts, integrating into management practices, and tracking and monitoring performance – are being taken up by 24 prominent companies from different industry sectors and different parts of the world. It aims to inform companies as they seek to match their commitment to the human rights principles of the Global Compact with tangible actions. The second report is a consultative draft which assesses the overall impact of the Global Compact and its role in mainstreaming human rights within business. The finalised report, due September, will include recommendations on how the Global Compact’s strategic approach could be further developed to build on successes, address criticisms and achieve greater impact.
On 30 June OECD Watch released the report, ‘10 Years On’, assessing the effectiveness of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The voluntary guidelines aim to promote sustainable development and responsible global conduct of companies based in OECD countries. OECD Watch looks at their implementation and effectiveness over the past ten years, analysing cases filed by NGOs against corporations alleging violations of the Guidelines. Common alleged violations include environmental damages and human rights abuses in developing countries, often occuring within the supply and value chains of major multinational corporations. OECD Watch found that a lack of political will, sanctioning powers and coherent implementation have significantly diminished the potential value of the instrument and suggest the recently initiated revision of the Guidelines is a make or break opportunity to help stop corporate abuses.
Contact: OECD Watch oecdwatch.org
Revised Guide to Human Rights Impact Assessment and Management
On 25 June, the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the UN Global Compact launched the revised Guide to Human Rights Impact Assessment and Management (HRIAM) as an online tool at www.guidetohriam.org. The aim of the revised Guide is to provide companies with guidance on how to assess and manage human rights risks and impacts of their business activities. The revised Guide to HRIAM process is divided into seven stages: Preparation, Identification, Engagement, Assessment, Mitigation, Management, Evaluation and contains features including: human rights scenarios written for 12 industry sectors; a due diligence mapping tool; and tools to assist the assessment, mitigation and management stages. The website contains a Resources bank and online community area for dedicated discussions on business and human rights issues.
Contact: International Business Leaders Forum www.iblf.org
Launch of online portal on ‘Business, Conflict & Peace’
The non-profit Business & Human Rights Resource Centre launched the first global information hub on ‘Business, Conflict & Peace’ on 31 May. The portal’s aim is to give practical assistance to: NGOs, highlighting their concerns & initiatives and providing information to help their research and campaigning; companies, providing guidance tools and examples of good and bad practice; governments, providing examples of government initiatives and information to help them protect against abuses by business; media, providing information about under-the-radar cases and issues; and investors and consumers, with information to guide decisions. Special sections are provided on particular issues, such as killings, torture, complicity, peace building, gender. It also profiles human rights lawsuits brought against companies operating in conflict zones.
Race and the professions: aspiration and frustration
Racism is still stopping Britain’s ethnic minorities from entering the best-paid professions despite them having a stronger work ethic and greater drive than white Britons, a report released 15 June claims. The report, funded by the government and compiled by charity Business in the Community, says too many ethnic minority Britons feel prestige jobs in the law, banking, media and politics are closed to them. It finds “blatant racism”, including taunts about being terrorists, is still closing doors and warns that the government and business must take tougher action. For the study, 1,500 people from all ethnic backgrounds were interviewed. Asked which professions were seen as racist, nearly half of all respondents saw the police as prejudiced, rising to 72% for Afro-Caribbeans. The armed forces were seen as prejudiced by 36%, politics by 30%, and law by 16%. More than a fifth said they had been offended by a racial remark in their place of work.
ILO conference adopts new standard on HIV and AIDS
On June 17, governments, employers and workers meeting at the annual conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted a new international labour standard on HIV and AIDS – the first international human rights instrument to focus specifically on the issue in the world of work. The standard is the first internationally sanctioned legal instrument aimed at strengthening the contribution of the world of work to universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and contains provisions on potentially life-saving prevention programmes and anti-discrimination measures at national and workplace levels. It also emphasizes the importance of employment and income-generating activities for workers and people living with HIV, particularly in terms of continuing treatment.
Contact: International Labour Organization www.ilo.org
Leaders grapple with tone from the top
Setting the right tone from the top is viewed as an increasingly important leadership skill that can make or break relationships with shareholders, employees, customers and business partners. A report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP on July 8 shows that, while leaders are articulating the ethical values and principles they want others to work by, these are not regularly measured or evaluated and are often undermined by their own leadership teams’ behaviours. More than 40% of the 145 respondents from PwC Fraud Academy said that, on occasions where tone from the top had been undermined, it was due to leadership actions not matching the ethical message being delivered. The report covers ten key areas including measurement of ethical risk, availability and effectiveness of training and development and internal help mechanisms.
COMMENTS