A Framework for Human Rights

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By Dan Bross, senior director of Corporate Citizenship

Remember when you heard the word “networks” and thought ABC – CBS – NBC? OK, OK - I’m dating myself. Today the word “networks” is used in a variety of contexts – computer networks; virtual networks; and last but certainly not least – social networks.

“The Power of Networks” was the organizing tenant of BSR’s 2013 conference in San Francisco, CA earlier this month.  As Aron Kramer, BSR’s President and CEO notes in a recent blog post, “networks are reshaping our world… (Providing) new opportunities for businesses and their partners to activate their networks, and … use the “Power of Networks” to … build a just and sustainable world.”

As Microsoft’s senior director of Corporate Citizenship, I am part of a network of colleagues across a wide and diverse range of organizations (corporations; civil society organizations; academic institutions; investors; governments; et al) all working on the issue of human rights. Our work is as varied as the organizations we represent. While our focus and responsibilities may vary, I suspect we would agree that the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) has provided a much needed framework for our work. 

Since the UNGPs were adopted by the UN in June 2011, we have taken a number of steps across Microsoft to work to fulfill our responsibility to respect the human rights of our rights holders, including: issuing our Global Human Rights Statement; launching the Microsoft Technology and Human Rights Center; and assessing the human rights impacts of our operations on an ongoing basis. These assessments – in Guiding Principles parlance – are referred to as human rights impact assessments or HRIAs and it was this part of our human rights work that I was invited to speak to at the BSR conference.

Chloe Poynton, a member of BSR’s Advisory Services team moderated the session by outlining the responsibility of companies under the UNGPs to “know and show” their impact on human rights through an internal due diligence process (HRIAs). John Morrison, Executive Director of the Institute for Human Rights and Business explained that “businesses must never get the message that human rights are just about managing risk” and explained that companies are working collaboratively to assess human rights risks and develop common methodologies for greater alignment. 

The other panelist, Chris Anderson, Rio Tinto’s Americas Director, Communities and Social Performance talked a bit about the need for human rights training/education within corporations, and Chris and I agreed that that one size type of training does not fit all and need to address aspects of human rights relevant for individual roles and responsibilities within an organization.

During the question and answer portion of the session, I had an opportunity to speak a bit about the HRIA we completed prior to establishing a business presence in Myanmar and the importance of “baking” assessments into business processes.

In my mind, the three key takeaways from the session were:

  • It is important for companies to be transparent about their human rights policies, priorities and processes.
  • There is a great need for companies to develop and deliver targeted internal human rights training focused on specific roles and responsibilities.
  • Delivering on human rights goals and commitments requires an ongoing and sustained effort given the dynamic nature of organizations and the ever changing human rights landscape.