Half of businesses worldwide are at legal risk by neglecting human rights
Survey says findings come despite laws being changed to make human rights performance of companies an increasingly important corporate issue
Companies which fail to check for infringements on human rights in their business and their suppliers are putting themselves at legal and reputational risk, according to a new report.
The study published by the British Institute of International & Comparative Law (BIICL) and global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright found that almost half of major companies are not performing a due diligence assessment of potential human rights impact on their business or their supply chain.
Using online surveys, the study found only 51 per cent of 152 companies were performing a dedicated assessment. Of these, 77 per cent identified actual or potential human rights impacts and 72 per cent found impacts linked to the activities of third party relationships.
According to the surveys, the two main incentives for those undertaking human rights due diligence was to avoid legal risks and protect the company’s reputation.
Human rights due diligence is taking on a “hard legal dimension”, Robert McCorquodale, director of BIICL, said in a press release.
“Although significant changes to national and EU laws have made the human rights performance of companies an increasingly important corporate issue, our report has found that half of companies don’t even have a dedicated human rights due diligence process,” he said.