Abstract
The new millennium has witnessed a growing concern over the impact of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on human rights. Hence, this article explores (1) how wide-spread corporate policies on human rights are amongst large corporations, specifically the FTSE 100 constituent firms, (2) whether any sectors are particularly active in designing human rights policies and (3) where corporations have adopted such policies what their content is. In terms of adoption rates of human rights policies, evidence of exemplary approaches in individual companies contrasts with a less satisfactory engagement pattern across the sample, as 42.8% of firms do not seem to address human rights at all. With regard to the content of corporate human rights policies, the study found shallow commitments to dominate, where companies focus on a narrow range of negative rights, i.e. on respecting human rights, rather than positive ones, i.e. initiatives to protect or fulfil human rights.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
For a discussion of the differences between natural and human rights, see Donnelly (1985).
Gewirth (1982, p. 4) bases human rights on the rational agency of humans: ‘persons act for purposes they regard as good. Because every agent regards his purposes as good, he must regard as necessary goods the freedom and well-being which are the necessary conditions of his action for any of his purposes.’ For a critique of this approach, see Rorty (1993).
The UNDP (2000) trio of respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights was proposed specifically in relation to the impacts of governments on human rights.
Oil company BP, for example, comments on the problems of limited corporate reach: ‘In the three areas of employees, communities and security, where we have direct control, our responsibility and positions are straightforward. Our greatest challenges occur in situations outside of our direct control—for example, in joint ventures where we do not hold a controlling interest, or in interactions with other third parties.’
TUI states that its code of conduct is a translation from German. However, the commitment to human rights in the original version of the code amounts to exactly the same length—nine words.
The information presents the authors’ lay interpretation of the UK Human Rights Act of 1998 and the Equality Act of 2010.
Cadbury was taken over by US company Kraft Foods in February 2010.
References
Avery, C. L. (2000). Business and human rights in a time of change. London: Amnesty International.
BitC. (2010). Corporate Responsibility Index 2010. London: Business in the Community. http://media.ft.com/cms/def0bcbe-7252-11df-9f82-00144feabdc0.pdf.
Blowfield, M. (2002). ETI: A multi-stakeholder approach. In R. Jenkins, R. Pearson, & G. Seyfang (Eds.), Corporate responsibility and labour rights: Codes of conduct in the global economy (pp. 184–195). London: Earthscan.
Bondy, K., Matten, D., & Moon, J. (2004). The adoption of voluntary codes of conduct in MNCs: A three-country comparative study. Business and Society Review, 109(4), 449–477.
Carasco, E. F., & Singh, J. B. (2008). Human rights in global business ethics codes. Business and Society Review, 113(3), 347–374.
Cassel, D. (2001). Human rights and business responsibilities in the global marketplace. Business Ethics Quarterly, 11(2), 261–274.
Donnelly, J. (1985). The concept of human rights. London: Croom Helm.
Donnelly, J. (1998). Human rights: A new standard of civilization? International Affairs, 74(1), 1–23.
Donnelly, J. (2003). Universal human rights in theory and practice (2nd ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Dworkin, R. (1977). Taking rights seriously. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Eikhof, D. R., Haunschild, A., & Warhurst, C. (2007). Introduction: What work? What life? What balance? Critical reflections on the work-life balance debate. Employee Relations, 29(4), 325–333.
Erwin, P. M. (2011). Corporate codes of conduct: The effects of code content and quality on ethical performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 99(4), 535–548.
Feinberg, J. (1970). The nature and value of rights. Journal of Value Inquiry, 4(4), 243–257.
Frankental, P. (2002). The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a corporate code of conduct. Business Ethics: A European Review, 11(2), 129–133.
Fussler, C., Cramer, A., & van der Vegt, S. (2004). Raising the bar: Creating value with the United Nations Global Compact. Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing.
Gewirth, A. (1982). Human rights: Essays on justification and applications. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
GRI. (2006). Sustainability reporting guidelines, version 3.0. Amsterdam: Global Reporting Initiative.
Holliday, I. (2005). Doing business with rights violating regimes: Corporate social responsibility and Myanmar’s Military Junta. Journal of Business Ethics, 61(4), 329–342.
ICC. (2008). ICC views on business and human rights. Paris: International Chamber of Commerce.
Ishay, M. R. (2008). The history of human rights: From ancient times to the globalization era. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Jerbi, S. (2009). Business and human rights at the UN: What might happen next? Human Rights Quarterly, 31(2), 299–320.
Kaptein, M. (2004). Business codes of multinational firms: What do they say? Journal of Business Ethics, 50(1), 13–31.
Kolk, A., & van Tulder, R. (2004). Ethics in international business: Multinational approaches to child labor. Journal of World Business, 39(1), 49–60.
Leipziger, D. (2010). The corporate responsibility code book (2nd ed.). Sheffield: Greenleaf.
Leisinger, K. M. (2006). Human rights: A business duty? In M. Keiner (Ed.), The future of sustainability (pp. 117–151). Heidelberg: Springer.
Locke, J. (1690/1980). Second treatise of government: An essay concerning the true original extent and end of civil government. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.
Lugli, E., Kocollari, U., & Nigrisoli, C. (2009). The codes of ethics of S&P/MIB Italian companies: An investigation of their contents and the main factors that influence their adoption. Journal of Business Ethics, 84(1), 33–45.
Maconachie, R. (2009). Diamonds, governance and ‘local’ development in post-conflict Sierra Leone: Lessons for artisanal and small-scale mining in Sub-Saharan Africa? Resources Policy, 34(1/2), 71–79.
Mertus, J. A. (2009). The United Nations and human rights: A guide for a new era (2nd ed.). Abingdon: Routledge.
Meyer, W. H. (1996). Human rights and MNCs: Theory versus quantitative analysis. Human Rights Quarterly, 18(2), 368–397.
Monshipouri, M., Welch, C. E., & Kennedy, E. T. (2003). Multinational corporations and the ethics of global responsibility: Problems and possibilities. Human Rights Quarterly, 25(4), 965–989.
Muchlinski, P. T. (2001). Human rights and multinationals: Is there a problem? International Affairs, 77(1), 31–47.
Nickel, J. W. (2007). Making sense of human rights (2nd ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
OECD. (2001). Codes of corporate conduct: Expanded review of their contents. Working papers on international investment number 2001/6. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Directorate for Financial, Fiscal and enterprise affairs, Paris.
OHCHR and UNGC. (2007). Human rights and business learning tool. New York: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva and UN Global Compact Office. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/HR_Learning.htm.
ONS. (2007). UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2007 (SIC 2007). Basingstoke: Office for National Statistics Newport, Wales and Palgrave.
Preuss, L. (2009). Ethical sourcing codes of large UK-based corporations: Prevalence, content, limitations. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(4), 735–747.
Preuss, L. (2010). Codes of conduct in organisational context: From cascade to lattice-work of codes. Journal of Business Ethics, 94(4), 471–487.
Rawls, J. (1993). The law of the peoples. In S. Shute & S. Hurley (Eds.), On human rights (pp. 41–82). New York, NY: Basic Books.
Rorty, R. (1993). Human rights, rationality, and sentimentality. In S. Shute & S. Hurley (Eds.), On human rights (pp. 111–134). New York, NY: Basic Books.
Smith, C., & Pun, N. (2006). The dormitory labour regime in China as a site for control and resistance. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 17(8), 1456–1470.
SRSG. (2008). Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights. New York, NY: Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G08/128/61/PDF/G0812861.pdf?OpenElement.
Sullivan, R. (2003). Introduction. In R. Sullivan (Ed.), Business and human rights: Dilemmas and solutions (pp. 13–20). Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing.
Sullivan, R., & Seppala, N. (2003). From the inside out: A management perspective on human rights. In R. Sullivan (Ed.), Business and human rights: Dilemmas and solutions (pp. 102–112). Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing.
Twiss, S. B. (2004). History, human rights, and globalization. The Journal of Religious Ethics, 32(1), 39–70.
UNDP. (2000). Human Development Report 2000: Human Rights and Human Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2000_EN.pdf.
Weissbrodt, D., & Kruger, M. (2003). Norms on the responsibilities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises with regard to human rights. American Journal of International Law, 97(4), 901–922.
Wettstein, F. (2009). Multinational corporations and global justice: Human rights obligations of a quasi-governmental institution. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
Wettstein, F. (2010). The duty to protect: Corporate complicity, political responsibility, and human rights advocacy. Journal of Business Ethics, 96(1), 33–47.
Wood, G. (2000). A cross cultural comparison of the content of codes of ethics: USA, Canada and Australia. Journal of Business Ethics, 25(4), 287–298.
World Bank. (2003). Company codes of conduct and international standards: An analytical comparison, Vol. 1: Apparel, footwear and light manufacturing, agribusiness, tourism. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix 1: Extract from the Human Rights Policy of Prudential Group
Appendix 1: Extract from the Human Rights Policy of Prudential Group
The Human Rights Policy of insurer Prudential Group shows the clearest alignment with the UN Declaration in the sample. The document refers to the individual articles of the Declaration and lists those that the company sees as applicable:
We strongly endorse the principles set out in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, in particular those relevant to our operations which are:
The right to freedom from discrimination;
The right to personal safety and security;
The prohibition of slavery: forced or child labour;
The prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
The right to privacy;
The right to religious freedom;
The right to freedom of opinion and expression;
The right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association;
The right to free participation in political life;
The right to work;
The right to rest and leisure
The right to an adequate standard of living;
The right to education;
The right of minorities and indigenous peoples to protect their identity;
The right to cultural participation.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Preuss, L., Brown, D. Business Policies on Human Rights: An Analysis of Their Content and Prevalence Among FTSE 100 Firms. J Bus Ethics 109, 289–299 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1127-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1127-z