Human rights

Underpinning the UNGPs is the concept of human rights due diligence; the process a business must go through in order to “know” where human rights are at risk of being negatively impacted by its activities, and "show", through reporting, how it is working to prevent or mitigate these risks, how it monitors the effectiveness of its program and how it provides for remedy when things go wrong. Our specialist team are available to:

• Analyse risks and impacts related to human rights via a comprehensive risk assessment to identify salient issues.
• Provide a gap analysis of your current human rights management processes and best practice recommendations.
• Deliver stakeholder analysis and engagement, including with impacted and potentially impacted stakeholders, where appropriate.
• Design and assist in the implementation of appropriate procedures and controls to mitigate adverse human rights impacts.
• Design an appropriate internal monitoring methodology, including the development of KPIs to measure progress.
• Design escalation and remediation policies and procedures to respond to actual impacts when identified.
• Training on human rights for C-suite, risk committee, internal auditors, procurement and other departments required to uphold the company’s commitment.

To ensure the report you develop and publish is robust, aligned with the principles enshrined in the UNGPs, and reflective of a comprehensive human rights program, we will develop systems and processes to support you with:

• Developing a communications strategy that relays the business’s commitment to human rights and how it is addressing the risk of its impacts.
• Engaging with stakeholders to inform reporting.
• Reviewing, tracking and reporting performance and recommending industry best practices that are applicable to the company.
• Drafting of standalone human rights reports, relevant sections to wider sustainability reports, or incorporating relevant elements into your Strategic Report (UK) or Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive report (EU).

Independent assurance has a vital role in enhancing the credibility of how the company speaks about its risks and performance on human rights and it will become a mandatory requirement, under new legislation such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. 

As the co-authors of the UNGP Reporting Framework Assurance Guidance, we are in a leading position to provide independent assurance on your human rights report.

Our specialists are available to:

• Provide assurance readiness, ensuring your report stands up to scrutiny by a 3rd party assurance provider.
• Support you in developing the systems and controls needed to evidence a robust human rights program and report.
• Develop assurance-ready KPIs to assess your human rights progress.
• Provide a limited assurance opinion on your full report or selected human rights KPIs. For more information on the most appropriate assurance opinion for your work, please see ESG Assurance.