"The World's Leading Companies on Human Rights", 13 Mar 2017

It is difficult to gauge which multinational companies are leaders and laggards when it comes to human rights. But a report issued today...looks at some of the world’s best-known and largest companies in an attempt to give a snapshot of their human rights performance...The report has some surprises, especially to some companies that landed on “best places to work” rankings over the years. The average score was 28.7 percent.  Only three companies scored higher than 60 percent...Marks and Spencer (M&S)...[t]he U.K. retail giant...stands out among its peers within both the apparel and food industries...The American retail chains Macy’s and Kohl’s rounded out the list of apparel companies with weak or non-existent human rights guidelines.  When evaluating global food companies, Unilever and Nestlé are just a few steps behind M&S...The CHRB report did not look kindly on fast-food companies...[including] McDonald’s and Yum! Brands...the [report] indicate[s] that [the extractives] sector is in the midst of a turnaround.  BHP Billilton...won high points across the board...Rio Tinto and Total were also noted as exemplar companies overall on human rights issues. [Also refers to H&M, Adidas, Costco, China Petroleum and Chemical, and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation].