Why do companies need to consider embedding the UN Guiding principles on business and human rights? What is the current status of the UK Modern slavery Act? What other developments are we seeing?

1. FINANCE AGAINST TRAFFICKING
CONFERENCE 2014
UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights– key
features
Colleen Theron

2. What are the UN Guiding principles?
• How many of you here are aware of the
Un Guiding principles on business and
human rights?
• How many of you implement these?

3. 7 key features of the principles
• set of universal standards
• apply to ALL companies
• not legally binding
• accepted as universally applicable
benchmarks
• any company can be measured by them
• aimed to prevent companies from violating
human rights
• ensure adequate legal redress

4. Why should company’s know
about them?
• Why should companies be aware of the
impacts of human rights in their business
operations ?
• Number of risks to companies :
– Legal and regulatory
– Reputational
– Operational

5. How can business violate these rights?
• Directly
• Indirectly
• By association
• Investments
• Consider how the principles apply to
human trafficking

6. Modern slavery bill
• currently no mention of supply chains but lobbying to
include it
• different approaches being advocated by NGOs
• FAT in favour of using the current Companies Act
disclosure provisions to extend to listed companies
initially and then to large companies
• should be combined with a 'risk based approach' for
due diligence and monitoring
• little value in adopting the California Supply chains act
• a more strategic approach required, looking at how
current legislation can support the new provisions in
the act.

7. Understand regulatory landscape
• Companies Act 2006- Strategic reporting
regulations
• EU Directive on disclosure of non-financial
aspects
• American legislation
• EU proposal for Regulation on conflict
minerals- supply chain due diligence

8. How can the UNGPs facilitate companies behaviour?
• Sets a framework on what is expected of
companies. For example:
– policies and Procedures
– due Diligence
– supply chain management
– stakeholder issues
– understanding effective integration
– reporting
– operational level grievance mechanisms

9. What can business do to remedy/prevent?
• Key is making human rights assessment key
to companies approach to responsible
business agenda
• ChainChecker
• Understand the meaning of trafficking. What's
included, what is excluded?
• Second pillar of principles 11-29 set out
process guidance
• Understand where the business operates,
who it works with, how to do this responsibly

10. What has been the uptake?
• not enough in the financial sector
• companies operating abroad don’t always
meet the human rights standards set out in
OECD and GPs
• key judgment in KioBel case on inapplicability
of the Alien Tort Statute for remedy
implications for access to judicial remedy in
US courts by victims of adverse impacts by
US based companies abroad
• not eliminated business abuse
• lack of progress

11. What next?
• Talk of an international human rights treaty
• July 2014 the intergovernmental working
group passed an resolution to provide for
an internationally legally binding
instrument
• Swiss Coalition for Corporate Justice calls
for mandatory due diligence for companies

12. Some things to consider in the discussion?
How many companies adopt these principles in their codes
of conduct?
Is a voluntary framework less effective than regulation?
How do you engage companies to adopt best practice? DO
they know what best practice looks like ?
Do companies understand how they can be complicit in
human rights abuses?
What do you think about the definition of ‘slavery’vs ‘human
trafficking’?