Human rights guidelines and references

Increased attention and regulatory demands on human rights challenges companies to steadily navigate multiple standards and guidance in order to ensure compliance.

The field of human rights in business has been receiving more attention in the years following the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This has influenced the development of standards and guidance by several organizations and stakeholders. There are now more guidelines than ever on managing human rights risks across businesses and their supply chains.  

As national legislation on management and disclosure requirements continues to evolve, companies face significant challenges in managing their human rights performance across entities, operations, geographic borders, and cultural and linguistic differences.

DNV can help companies make sense of this complex landscape, from understanding demands, interpreting requirements and ensuring compliance in every single market.   

Below is a non-exhaustive selection of some of the relevant standards and guidance issued by governments and International organizations. 

  • UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights 
  • UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework 
  • UN Global Compact 10 principles 
  • ILO core conventions 
  • OECD Due Diligence Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct 
  • OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises 
  • Industry standards (AIAG Automotive Industry Guiding Principles, Responsible Business Alliance, Responsible Minerals initiative, etc) 
  • The ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy 
  • ETI Human rights due diligence framework 
  • Stock exchange guidance on human rights disclosure 
  • Conflict minerals regulations in EU (UE 2017/821) and US (Section 1502 of the Dodd Frank Act) 
  • National laws - Canada: Bill S-211, Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act; California: Transparency in Supply Chains Act (2010); UK: Modern Slavery Act (2015); The Netherlands: Child Labour Laws (2017); France: Duty of Vigilance Legislation (2017); Australia: Modern Slavery Act (2018); Canadian Modern Slavery Act, 2020; Germany: Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains (2021) 

DNV’s human rights experts can guide you from navigating the guidelines and references, embedding them into strategies and addressing human rights issues and compliance throughout the value chain.