Since 2005, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has invited companies to respond to allegations of misconduct raised by civil society, when we find no evidence that they have otherwise responded to the concerns.  This process encourages companies to publicly address human rights concerns, and provides the public with both the allegations and the company’s comments in full.  In some cases this process helps to bring about resolution of the issues.  In other cases it has led to dialogue between the company and those raising the concerns.  In all cases it has increased transparency.

We indicate response rates in the company sections of the site.  While this is not a reflection of a company’s actual conduct, and while the quality of responses varies, it is an important indicator of a firm’s openness to engaging with human rights concerns being raised by civil society.

Our all time, global response rate for companies is 59%. If a company is listed as having failed to respond to a particular allegation, but it has in fact issued a response or statement about that allegation, please let us know.