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Editor's Note
Solving the Human Rights Challenge
By Faris Natour, Director, Human Rights
Welcome to the third edition of the BSR Review, our bi-monthly update on issues central to sustainable business. This edition features a collection of BSR’s recent work on human rights—one of the most pressing and challenging issues for business today.
This year may well prove to be a watershed moment for business and human rights. In June, Professor John Ruggie, UN Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, will present his final recommendations for managing business impacts on human rights to the UN Human Rights Council. Ruggie's "Protect, Respect, and Remedy" Framework has already emerged as the de facto standard for corporate responsibility for human rights, and in 2011 businesses around the world will rush to strengthen their human rights management systems in accordance with Ruggie's guiding principles.
To help companies meet these higher expectations, BSR will build on and expand the work we have done in the past helping businesses understand and address human rights challenges and capitalize on opportunities. In this issue, you will find examples of our work developing human rights strategies, addressing labor rights in the supply chain, strengthening the protections for migrant workers, and exploring the human rights challenges of industries such as the information and communications technology sector.
We hope you find this issue of the BSR Review useful. For questions about human rights, please contact Faris Natour.
Strategies
Submission to the Special Representative for Business and Human Rights on the Draft Guiding Principles
(January 1, 2011)
By Faris Natour, Director, Human Rights, BSR
Report: BSR submitted a commentary on the draft "Guiding Principles for the Implementation of the United Nations 'Protect, Respect, and Remedy' Framework" proposed by Professor John Ruggie, Special Representative to the UN Secretary General for Human Rights and Business.
Read more→
Microsoft and Human Rights: Protecting Freedom of Expression in the Age of Global Communications
(December 15, 2010)
Webinar: Listen to a discussion with Microsoft's Dan Bross and Chuck Cosson on Microsoft's approach to protecting and advancing freedom of expression in the age of global communications as well as the company's participation in the multi-stakeholder Global Network Initiative.
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Protecting Privacy in the Age of Global Communications
(November 4, 2010)
BSR Conference 2010 session video: Watch our panel discussion on issues around protecting privacy in the age of global communications.
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The Role of Business in Promoting Human Rights
(November 4, 2010)
BSR Conference 2010 session summary: This session explored the circumstances in which corporate responsibility includes supporting and promoting human rights, and if there is a business case for companies to help realize human rights.
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Internet and Human Rights: In Conversation With Rebecca MacKinnon
(November 3, 2010)
BSR Conference 2010 session summary: Rebecca MacKinnon, a renowned expert on both China and internet policy, discussed how governments of all types across all continents are threatening human rights online, how companies and stakeholders are responding, and what this means for the future of democracy.
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Should You Stay or Should You Go? What's the 'Right' Decision on Entering or Leaving a Market?
(March 23, 2010)
By Aron Cramer, President and CEO, BSR
BSR Insight article: Google's decision to cite human rights as a reason for potentially leaving China raises much broader ethical questions about the role of human rights in corporate decisions to enter or exit a market.
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Effective Remedies for Human Rights Impacts
(January 27, 2010)
Webinar: In a conversation with Caroline Rees—an expert on non-judicial grievance mechanisms at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and with the UN Special Representative for Business and Human Rights—we explore how companies can set up company or industry grievance mechanisms, ombudsmen processes, and mediation to proactively manage their human rights impacts. BSR Member login required.
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Moving the Needle: Protecting the Rights of Garment Factory Workers
(October 1, 2009)
Report: This report includes some of the best thinking on and real-life examples of how brands can further workers' rights and responsibilities in difficult factory environments.
Read more→
Opinions
Egypt and the Complicated Ethics of the Telecommunications Industry
(February 1, 2011)
By Dunstan Allison Hope, Managing Director, Advisory Services, BSR
Blog: Like many people, I’ve been watching the scenes of democratic protests in Egypt unfold with a mixture of awe and fascination, fear and hope. I’ve also been reflecting on the implications of these events for the relationship between business and human rights.
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WikiLeaks, Human Rights, and Business
(December 9, 2010)
By Faris Natour, Director, Human Rights, BSR
Blog: As if the political fallout from the recent disclosure of U.S. diplomatic cables was not reason enough to follow this story closely, the WikiLeaks saga has now squarely landed in the middle of one of the most pressing business and human rights debates of our time: the responsibility of business to respect the rights to free expression and privacy.
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Universal Access to HIV Services: A Promise Yet to Be Realized
(November 30, 2010)
By Mark Little, Director, Healthcare, Advisory Services, BSR
BSR Insight article: More than 20 years after the first World AIDS Day on December 1, 1988, the theme for this past year's observance—"Universal Access and Human Rights"—is a sobering reminder of the challenges that characterize the fight against this epidemic.
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Water as a Human Right: Good for Business
(July 30, 2010)
By Faris Natour, Director, Human Rights, BSR
Blog: The UN General Assembly's declaration that access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right reflects the importance of water as a sustainability challenge, provides companies with more clarity on their responsibilities, and represents an opportunity for innovation and leadership.
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Tools
Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Violations: Conflicting Decisions in U.S. Courts
(October 15, 2010)
By Faris Natour, Director, Human Rights, BSR
Blog:Read more →
Good Practice Guide: Global Migration
(October 1, 2010)
Report: This guide provides general guidance on key international labor migration issues, identifies good practices on issues from recruitment to termination and repatriation to inform codes of conduct, and highlights leading international standards and company codes of conduct.
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Migrant Worker Management Toolkit: A Global Framework
(September 1, 2010)
Report: This toolkit—designed for factory managers and human resources personnel—recommends a three-step framework for responsible management of international labor migration: educate, partner, and build capacity.
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Conflict Minerals and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(June 1, 2010)
Report: This report highlights the challenges and opportunities for companies to address conflict minerals in their supply chains through the support of supply chain responsibility efforts, government engagement on the issue, and local capacity building in the Congo.
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Effective Informed Consent Policies for Indigenous Peoples
(May 18, 2010)
By Elissa Goldenberg, Associate, Advisory Services, BSR
BSR Insight article: According to a report commissioned by the Canadian oil and gas company Talisman, the long-term benefits of securing the free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous peoples potentially impacted by operations outweigh challenges such as identifying relevant indigenous peoples, defining an appropriate negotiation process, and working inside countries with unsupportive governments.
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Starting a Responsible Labor Initiative: Lessons From the DR-CAFTA Responsible Competitiveness Project
(April 27, 2010)
By Alison Colwell, Associate Director, Advisory Services, BSR
BSR Insight article: Based on lessons learned from our demonstration projects, we look at some of the best ways to implement responsible labor programs throughout a company's global operations—from the corporate board room, to local producer, to the field.
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