France

By Daniel Morris | 27. November 2017

II. Business Responsibility to Respect Human Rights

1. Charters and Codes of Conduct [pages 38-39]

Charters and codes of conduct are voluntary initiatives that create legitimate expectations among stakeholders. Company charters aim to:

  • Set down and disclose the company’s commitments to human rights;
  • Explain expectations to employees, subsidiaries and subcontractors.

The following points are key to their implementation:

  • They must send a clear and strong message from the highest level of the business;
  • They must enable businesses to respect internationally recognised human rights and make commitments appropriate to their size and activity;
  • They must cover relationships with commercial partners and not be limited to “direct” activities.

Existing tools:

− The Guide on How to Develop a Human Rights Policy, published by the UN Global Compact, which contains recommendations for businesses on developing and implementing human rights policies (https://www.unglobalcompact.org/library/22);

− Examples of human rights commitments by international businesses, collected by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (https://businesshumanrights.org/en/company-policysteps);

− The charter for French businesses working in Africa, which was adopted at the AfricaFrance Summit in 2010;

− The Human Rights Reporting and Assurance Frameworks Initiative (RAFI);

− The Fibre Citoyenne initiative, aimed at businesses in the textile-garment sector, by the NGO Yamana.