"Human Rights -- A Growing Risk For Companies Doing Business In Tough Places", 10 Jun 2016

Yousuf Aftab is the Principal of Enodo Rights, a corporate human rights strategy firm based in New York. He advises leading global businesses and investors on practical implementation of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights...

Now, not only can companies harm their brand with corporate responsibility failures; they can also face substantial lawsuits and lose access to capital and political support. To navigate these emerging risks, companies need to implement far more sophisticated and structured corporate responsibility systems.

The source of this change is the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights...They have become the global benchmark for how companies manage their social impacts in and beyond the workplace...The definition also enables plaintiffs, investors and governments to hold businesses accountable for due diligence failures around human rights issues in a way they never could before. We have therefore seen a proliferation of lawsuits in the U.S., Canada and Europe, and a wave of pressure from institutional investors on multinational companies related to their human rights processes.

...The Guiding Principles are precise. They therefore enable businesses to anticipate and manage corporate responsibility risks efficiently...