Celebrating 60 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Published November 13th, 2008
Article 13, the leading corporate social responsibility consultancy, has released a feature on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which celebrates its 60th year in late 2008. The feature takes an in-depth look at the Declaration and the human rights it supports and profiles a recent review of human rights and business, as well as a framework for facilitating improvement, produced by Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights, John Ruggie.
This resource seeks to emphasise the importance of factoring human rights into responsible business practice by reminding readers of the myriad of issues related to human rights and providing best practice examples of businesses improving performance through human rights initiatives.
The UDHR, developed after the Second World War, was the first global statement of the inherent dignity and quality of all human beings. It provides a common global standard and is effectively a contract between all governments and their peoples. Whilst not all governments have become parties to human rights treaties they have all adopted the UDHR. It also forms the basis of human rights law and is itself based on the core values of non-discrimination, equality, fairness and universality.
A full breakdown of the rights incorporated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights can be viewed on Article 13’s human rights CSR expert view. What becomes evident through reading these rights is that many of them are flouted in various parts of the world, often closer to home than we think. Moreover, despite the efforts of individual organisations, these are too often the exception. Ruggie’s latest report proposes a framework for business and human rights comprising three core principles: the State duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business; the corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and the need for more effective access to remedies.
As a signatory of the UNGC, Article 13 upholds the principles related to human rights and works to inform others in its networks of the need for proactive action. The organisations profiled in the best practice CSR case studies of this human rights feature are, therefore, other UNGC signatories who are successfully tackling human rights and achieving business benefits as a result of their efforts. Issues covered in these case studies include human trafficking, institutionalised discrimination, employment opportunities for women in the developing world and nutrition.
To read the full human rights feature, visit www.article13.com/csr/theissues.asp
