STEP 1: Identify where human rights are included in your existing policies
A policy or publicly available statement should drive the integration of human rights in the business. It should be supported by programmes and objectives throughout the organisation to ensure that it is implemented and maintained. An increasing number of businesses include human rights either as a stand-alone policy or as part of other policies in the governance structure.
The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre is a valuable resource for understanding current issues in relation to business and human rights. It lists companies that have taken the step of adopting a formal business policy statement explicitly referring to human rights.
The Business and Human Rights Matrix can assist a business in identifying where it already covers human rights under various policy areas and thereby help to create a coherent human rights policy or statement.
The advantages of bringing these together into one easily identifiable document are:The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre is a valuable resource for understanding current issues in relation to business and human rights. It lists companies that have taken the step of adopting a formal business policy statement explicitly referring to human rights.
The Business and Human Rights Matrix can assist a business in identifying where it already covers human rights under various policy areas and thereby help to create a coherent human rights policy or statement.
- It makes it easier to view and review your overall approach to human rights
- It helps you check policy alignment with your business’s human rights strategy
- It provides an easily accessible document for your stakeholders to check your performance
- It ensures you have a public statement to frame responses to human rights questions
- It assists in developing understanding of human rights at different levels of the business