Contribute to UN Work on Business and Human Rights

What does a good corporate human rights policy look like? What should trigger a company's assessment of its human rights impacts? When should human rights be integrated into other business processes, and when should they stand alone?

To gather views on these questions and many more, on 1 December, John Ruggie, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General (SRSG) on Business and Human Rights, launched an online forum: www.srsgconsultation.org.

For all you busy readers out there who might not make it to the end of this post, the punchline is: The forum is the single best way to follow and contribute to the SRSG's elaboration of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. So join us! Visit the site, rate the comments that others have posted, and add your own. And follow the forum on Twitter at @srsgforum.

I'm one of the SRSG's advisors, managing the forum -- which was built specifically for the SRSG by two students at The University of Western Ontario as part of their fourth year Design Project.

So far the forum has drawn over 1800 unique visitors from 101 countries, averaging 30-50 hits a day.

One page that's attracted a lot of attention is "When international and national norms conflict", no doubt inspired by the Google-China kerfuffle that erupted in January. One response points to the Global Network Initiative as an example of what companies can do in collaboration with others; another references relevant guidance by the Danish Institute for Human Rights; yet another suggests a decision tree that companies might adopt.

Another popular page is on "assessing impacts" as part of human rights due diligence, also no surprise given the recent years' proliferation of new guidance for conducting human rights impact assessments for private sector activity.

The SRSG is taking these comments -- and their ratings, which registered users can provide with a simple click (like the "Like" button on Facebook, but without being identified) -- into account as he develops the guiding principles that will comprise his final report to the Human Rights Council in 2011.

During March, the forum will undergo a gradual overhaul: We're adding snazzy technical features, like the ability to share pages on Twitter and Facebook directly from the forum, and the option to sign up for emails or RSS feeds when specific pages are updated.

The content will also change: Comments posted to date will remain up, but some pages will be revised, and new provocative discussion questions will be added. As mentioned above, I'll be Tweeting updates to the site as well as new comments as @srsgforum.

Having worked in a company for a long time, I understand that some might not feel able to post in a way that reveals one's identity or affiliation; some might be daunted by putting views out there for the world to see (and rate); some might have other legitimate reasons for needing to post anonymously.

In the spirit of open dialogue, we'd prefer to know who's participating (either through user profiles or in the comments themselves), but private correspondence can be submitted to moderator[at]srsgconsultation.org, and will be posted once I or one of my colleagues review it.

We hope to be able to translate the forum into additional U.N. languages; please email admin[at]srsgconsultation.org with any recommendations of individuals or organizations interested in contributing high-quality pro bono translation. (That email address is the same one to use should you encounter any technical problems with the site.)

The forum will continue to evolve over the course of this year, in response to the SRSG’s work and new developments in the field. It will close in December, so make sure take advantage of the opportunity to join this community and contribute your views.

I hope to see you online!