Even with the eighty-year old labor rights standards set by the International Labor Organization, corporations everywhere are still depriving its workers rights inherent to them as human beings.

Upon the realignment of today’s global business paradigm, human rights abuses by corporations have become prevalent more than ever, even flouting vast distances. Through globalization, transnational corporations have accrued savings by transferring their manufacturing arms to nations with lenient labor laws. Children have been made part of their underpaid, overworked, and oft-imperiled workforce, virtually working in sweatshops. Corporations are also indirect violators of human rights by collaborating with third parties who carry out the abuse.

Holding these corporations accountable is now a growing mantra around the world. In response, more and more responsible corporations have assimilated human rights in their existing business paradigms.

Upholding human rights are made through policies or corporate social responsibility initiatives, which can promote changes on their own or with other policies in running the company. Human rights policies set parameters in running the corporation. In this way, a corporation can attain success even as it recognizes and upholds human rights.

For all their promising implications, policies could only be implemented and maintained for so long without complementing programs. Implementing pertinent codes of conduct have provided impetus for these policies. Corporations have also partnered with independent civil society entities, which audit and scrutinize the corporations’ activities. However, some corporations are ridiculously large for simplified auditing; to size up a large company’s human rights record, internal audits are in order. This measures the company’s level of achievement as much as it rectifies new issues as they happen. Investors can then assess their company’s efforts through corresponding disclosure projects.

As mandated by The Body Shop, a cosmetic franchise with over 2000 stores spread around the world, a nonprofit auditor can assess high-risk suppliers. Conversely, low-risk suppliers are merely expected to commit to the Body Shop Code of Conduct. Medium-risk organizations can be audited by a non-government entity. In any case, The Body Shop ensures that all its suppliers meet the company’s Ethical Trade standards. Suppliers are sorted as low, medium or high risk using a fool-proof special questionnaire.

Similarly, corporations in question often organize performance indicators to check their track record. They are designed to assess both the output and governance of the company. For this matter, training and resource allocation are efficient indicators. Individuals who are advised to submit to training include suppliers, exporting crew, human resources, and all supervisory staff.

When executives in the corporation back the policies, implementing the agenda could get the most attention. Some corporations have delegated human rights concerns to senior members, even ones belonging to their board of directors. Delegated as the senior manager of human rights, this person must have clout, be it in human resources, legal affairs, etc.

Policies are made to conform to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations, the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work by the International Labour Organization, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Furthermore, policies are always made in accordance with the UN Global Compact, which strives to drive positive impacts on human rights and labor standards, apart from the environment. Under the Compact, all corporations must uphold internationally recognized human rights and ascertain that their operations won’t inadvertently perpetrate any violation. Corporations must also recognize the workers’ right to form unions. The Global Compact also discourages forced labor and all its forms. Child labor is as great an abomination as discrimination, if not overshadowing it.

Aside from substandard labor conditions, many policies are relieving disparities in the treatment of workers due to race, gender and other castes. Discrimination takes many forms. Sexual harassment is also discrimination, referring to all unwanted sexual advances towards a worker, encompassing sexually charged comments, name calling, and other violations.

The Sri Lankan manufacturer MAS strives to empower women, by employing mostly women in its 34,000-strong workforce.

Granted, corporations may not settle for contrivance though–policies should be relevant as can be to their operations and tailored to the locality at hand. As part of macrocosmic businesses sectors, corporations can rely on sector-specific knowledge about upholding human rights. For retail corporations, relevant initiatives of interest include the Ethical Trading Initiative and Social Accountability 8000, while The Equator Principles work best for financial service businesses. Oil companies may base their policies on The Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. As for the Information Technology industry, there is the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct.

Apparel titan Gap Inc. is exemplary at human right-friendly procurement, if anything; Gap only orders from human right-compliant garment manufacturers, which are often transnationals. This way, they discourage others’ corporate excesses.

Barclays, a premier financial services firm, is strongly upholding human rights policies too. Since 2004, the firm has been applying the UN Human Rights Matrix in a dogged effort to promote humane workplace practices. The company also utilizes a human rights benchmark, the Corporate Responsibility Board Governance Standard. With this, its corporate leadership easily gauges success.

Computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) is also commended for implementing a Global Citizenship Policy, which explicitly states its commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Along those lines, HP has integrated such agenda in its supply chain. HP has also set aside a Global Citizenship unit to tackle its human rights record. Global Citizenship has not negatively affected HP revenues. In 2008, the HP Board declared regular dividends. HP Chairman and CEO Mark Hurd has also led HP to become one of the most environmentally friendly electronics companies.

Meanwhile, MTV Europe developed its revolutionary Code of Editorial Conduct. In entertainment, this code is unlike any other in the entertainment industry because it is founded on the concept of promoting human rights and is in no way involved with censorship. MTV Europe has also supplemented its efforts by campaigning — Exit Campaign to End Exploitation and Trafficking is one program.

Intervention can always come from outside the company when it comes to human rights issues. For example, the folks at Wayne, Pennsylvania have debarred delinquent corporations from ever opening shop. For the same ends, socially responsible individuals might also want to favor local enterprises over multinational firms.

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