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Guiding Principle 20

In order to verify whether adverse human rights impacts are being addressed, business enterprises should track the effectiveness of their response. Tracking should:

(a) Be based on appropriate qualitative and quantitative indicators;

(b) Draw on feedback from both internal and external sources, including affected stakeholders.

Commentary

Tracking is necessary in order for a business enterprise to know if its human rights policies are being implemented optimally, whether it has responded effectively to the identified human rights impacts, and to drive continuous improvement.

Business enterprises should make particular efforts to track the effectiveness of their responses to impacts on individuals from groups or populations that may be at heightened risk of vulnerability or marginalization.

Tracking should be integrated into relevant internal reporting processes. Business enterprises might employ tools they already use in relation to other issues. This could include performance contracts and reviews as well as surveys and audits, using gender-disaggregated data where relevant. Operational-level grievance mechanisms can also provide important feedback on the effectiveness of the business enterprise’s human rights due diligence from those directly affected (see Principle 29).

What National Action Plans say on Guiding Principle 20

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PLANNED ACTIVITIES:

Action point 13, Renforcer et contrôler le respect des droits de l’Homme dans les marchés publics [Strengthen and monitor the respect for human rights in public procurement], is the main action point on public procurement, and covers specific plans for the federal governments as well as all three Belgian regions. The federal government analyze the best way to verify and monitor compliance with the criteria set out in the procurement procedure for products and services in several sensitive sectors, some of which are produced in so-called “risk” countries, in order to ensure that the requirements relating to respect for human rights set out in the specifications have been complied with. Existing best practice in European countries will be used as sources of inspiration.

The Working Group on Sustainable Public Procurement analyzed various case studies on monitoring compliance with ILO clauses and human rights in supply chains in order to test, through pilot projects, whether such an initiative is feasible in Belgium. Implementation and follow-up of this initiative will be carried out in cooperation with the relevant federal, regional and local administrations.

The Flemish engagements include:
In 2016, the 2016-2020 Plan on Flemish Public Procurement was approved, a plan that emphasizes innovation, sustainability, reduction of human rights violations in supply chains, professionalization and access of SMEs.
Pilot projects (related to plan mentioned above) in this context the political fields of “Employment and Social Economy” and “Chancellery and Public Governance” will, together with the buyers of the various contracting authorities, monitor the credibility of the supporting documents (concerning the respect for human rights, etc.) and the respect for ILO core Conventions. This is necessary in order to verify that the human rights criteria included in the conditions are also effectively complied with. In this respect, the Flemish Authority will concentrate primarily on the procurement of textile products.

Section 3. Actions

II. Initial priorities for the Business and Human Rights Implementation Group

The Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights [page 18]

Encourage business representative bodies to provide examples, templates and case studies to help support companies in their efforts to develop human rights focused policies and reporting initiatives.

3.2. Responsible Business Conduct

Measuring the effectiveness of the company’s response [page 34]

The 20th principle concerns follow-up of the action taken. Companies should verify whether the action taken to address human rights impacts has had the intended result. Many companies have reported that they find it difficult to identify appropriate indicators. A number of initiatives in this respect are being taken internationally. Norway has supported the development of a reporting framework for the Guiding Principles to help companies assess the effectiveness of their measures and report on them. This is described in more detail in the following section.