Human rights checklist
We have decided to publish a series of 8 press releases, along with blog articles, providing organizations with a checklist of questions they can ask to easily identify potential improvement areas in the sustainability/CSR management.
This fourth one aims at exploring questions that should help you improve respect of human rights. It is structured as follows:
- Is the program structured?
- Have you set a non-discrimination program?
- Does the company prevent child and forced labor?
- Which actions are in place to respect fundamental human rights?
Structuring the program, as we have reminded in the past blog entries, is paramount. Indeed, when management is engaged, they can agree on such targets. After having identified the important topics and turn them into targets, the company can implement the program to mitigate its impacts towards stakeholders. Then, monitoring the targets is a way to see if such practices are efficient, and progress can be communicated to stakeholders. In the particular case of human rights, we recommend due diligence processes and a risk-mapping to adapt the actions according to the level of risks.
Non-discrimination
Non-discrimination means that are employees do have different treatment based on illegitimate grounds (like gender or age for instance). It will ensure the well-being of employees, avoids scandals and strengthen the human resources program.
Child labour
Child and forced labor must also be prohibited. Recruiting processes and checking mechanisms like audits are mechanisms to control the avoidance of such practices inside the company. When it occurs outside the company, awareness raising, due diligence processes and onsite audits are recommended at supplier level.
Fundamental human rights
Finally, all companies should respect fundamental human rights. The right to collective bargaining is one of them, and also the right to have a decent workplace with basic infrastructure.
In any case, companies should comply with international, national, and local laws regarding human rights. DFGE strongly recommends referring to international standards such as ILO, when engaging decision-makers, to leverage such topics. We know that such abuses could be located in the supply chain, which is harder to reach than your own facilities, but various sustainable procurement practices can be implemented. For more information, contact us at
If you also want to read the recent 3 checklists – please see
