Human Rights Explained for Business

According to the globally agreed minimum standard for responsible business conduct, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (the UNGPs) from 2011, your business should - at minimum - manage risks of impacts on the human rights contained in the 'International Bill of Human Rights' (IBHR), confer UNGPs Foundational Principle 12.

You business may have adverse impacts on all human rights.

Human rights represent the key elements of social sustainability and define the S in ESG.

Human rights outline all key areas of importance to human dignity.

Human Rights Explained is a tool that provides a basic understanding of how businesses can impact human rights and how such impact can be managed.

This handbook presents all 48 human rights contained in the IBHR and explains how each right is relevant in a business context.

Becoming familiar with human rights in a business context is a necessary step for companies to ‘respect human rights’ as required by the UNGPs.

If you and your employees gain a clear understanding of human rights, your company will be much better equipped to be able to avoid adverse impacts on human rights.

Through concrete examples, Human Rights Explained illustrates how businesses may adversely impact human rights, while also demonstrating how your business can manage that impact and even contribute positively to the fulfilment of each human right.