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4 March 2015

UN human rights reporting guidance for companies released

A new, comprehensive guide entitled United Nations Guiding Principles Reporting Framework has been launched, detailing how companies should report their human rights performance. Issued in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), it is the first guidance on the subject of human rights reporting for companies and the first to align with the global standard on business and human rights.

The Reporting Framework sets out a series of ‘smart’ questions that helps companies to begin reporting on their human rights performance. The framework is designed to work for companies of all sizes, regardless of how far they have progressed in implementing their responsibility to respect human rights. Companies from five different industry sectors are already early adopters of the UNGP, including Unilever, Ericsson, H&M, Nestlé and Newmont.

The framework was developed over two years in a global, multi-stakeholder process led by Shift, an organisation that assists governments, businesses and their stakeholders put the UNGPs into practice, and international accountancy firm Mazars. Caroline Rees, President of Shift said: “The UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework is a ground-breaking and vital tool for companies to know and show that they are managing risks to human rights effectively throughout their operations and value chain, with the potential for positive impact on millions of peoples’ lives”. In October 2014, the European Union adopted a directive requiring 6,000 companies to disclose non-financial information, including their human rights performance, by 2017.

For more information, visit the UNGP Reporting website.