Multinational businesses operate across a spectrum of regulatory environments and in diverse community settings. Failure to consult these communities and respect their rights in core operations can prove costly for international investors, the companies in which they invest and multinational corporations. Companies can save money and time and curb reputational risk by ensuring that human rights are an integrated part of their operations and investor due diligence.

Business leaders at the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct in Paris said as much, explaining that promoting responsible business conduct resulted in happier and stronger relationships with workers, more positive media coverage, and more investor and consumer confidence.

Given companies’ direct, often on-the-ground interactions with communities as well as their sway in the private sector, they should be leading the conversation on business and human rights. And, as governments domestically and internationally shift and often decrease their involvement in the BHR community, the responsibility and role of the corporate sector in these discussions will only increase.

Engaging with communities, ensuring that investment is sustainable and adopting practices that respect human rights are not just for the “corporate social responsibility” office. Leaders at the Paris forum emphasised that a company must integrate a responsible business conduct culture throughout the entire firm, making environmental and human rights outcomes as integral as profits. Additionally, forum participants discussed the need for regulation to even the corporate playing field to promote responsible business conduct strategies.

Several participants from the infrastructure sector explained that when it comes to development projects, no project is simple or straightforward. Ensuring the success of a project requires working with and listening to local stakeholders at all steps in the project cycle. Listening to everyone affected by a project is the first step toward protecting human and environmental rights.

While the Paris panel was focused on infrastructure, the key takeaways are relevant for businesses across a variety of sectors, from those in the textile industry to those investing in energy projects.  Some takeaways from this panel for those planning international investments:

• Create a holistic stakeholder map. This map helps identify important local actors and their interests.
• Engage in dialogue early and listen. Local communities know the most about the local context and political dynamics. 
• Aim to work together. New business should put all stakeholders in a position to benefit – failure for one party leads to failure for all parties.
• Build trust and recognise the longevity of the project. When a project has a decades-long timeline, 3-year contracts for community communication will be ineffective and undermine the project.
• Incorporate the local value chain. Training a local workforce may require more resources upfront, but will save resources in the long run by reducing conflict down the road.
• Proactively manage conflict. Companies should develop grievance mechanisms to encourage dialogue. Through dialogue, companies can learn the reasons behind conflict, address them, and prevent further conflict growth.
• Apologise. Like all actors, companies make mistakes. Apologise, publically, for times when the community has been harmed or gravely offended in order to keep or restore trust.
• Consistency. Matching rhetoric with action is a good business practice that easily translates into community relations.  

Of course, any good business doesn’t just talk. Protection of human rights and respect for local communities should always be moving from discussion to action. We look forward to seeing concrete steps from the business community towards defining responsible business conduct, integrating incentives for community consultation and respect, and protecting human and environmental rights as they invest and build.