2019 CHRB Shows Most Businesses Failing on Human Rights Due Diligence

The 2019 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB – a part of the World Benchmarking Alliance) – results have been released, and demonstrate how most companies in the apparel, food & beverage, extractive and tech manufacture sectors are failing to meet basic corporate human rights expectations.

CHRB measures how companies in four sectors perform across 100 indicators based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). It uses publicly available information on issues such as forced labour, protecting human rights activists and the living wage to give companies a maximum possible score of up to 100%.

While some leading companies have improved significantly, more than half of those assessed are failing to demonstrate they are meeting any of the UNGPs' basic requirements on human rights due diligence. As this is the tool for companies to both “know and show” that they are respecting human rights, this year’s benchmark shows that more urgently needs to be done by companies, investors and governments. The CHRB data are already being used by multiple investors (such as Aviva Investors, APG and Nordea to inform investments and dialogue) and is used by multi-trillion-dollar investor coalitions when they engage with companies.

“Our rankings show some leading companies demonstrating that action on human rights is possible within a competitive environment. But far too many low scoring companies have not changed their practices at all.  CHRB is calling for a rapid acceleration in the uptake of human rights due diligence to ensure companies respect human rights.  States and investors also have a key role and they should use this data to motivate companies to rapidly improve,” said Steve Waygood, Chief Responsible Investment Officer, Aviva Investors and Chair of the CHRB Board.

For detailed results, visit the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark website.