Ready to take action on human rights as they relate to your business? This guide can help.
What SMEs need to know
Embedding human rights in the way you operate is key to success on the global stage. All small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have responsibilities to respect internationally recognized human rights, and should have policies and procedures to meet these responsibilities. Use Export Development Canada’s (EDC) checklist below to get started or improve your current practices.
Are you familiar with the full range of human rights your business could impact?
Consider employees, customers, suppliers, community members and any others touched by the operations or activities of your company.
Check human rights laws where you do business, or plan to expand. Also understand the country context (e.g., is there severe conflict, risks of child labour, etc.?)
Has your company made a clear commitment to respect human rights? This is a key action set out in the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights. It shows that your company understands its responsibilities.
Develop a statement of policy that expresses your human rights commitments and expectations of staff, suppliers and others connected to your business.
Document it. Put your statement of commitment in writing—either in a stand-alone human rights policy or by integrating the statement into other governance documents such as contracts, codes of conduct (e.g., employee code, supplier code), or other policies.
How will you operationalize your human rights commitment? Written commitments are not enough—companies need to show how these are upheld and respected.
Conduct due diligence to identify all relevant human rights risks connected to your business activities. Sector or market-specific risks are important; for instance, human rights risks in apparel in Thailand are different from those in mining in Peru. Consider risks in both your operations and your supply chain.
Make a list of human rights issues to manage. Prioritize those that could be more likely and most severe in terms of impacts to your business and to people.
Put procedures/systems in place to prevent and mitigate these risks. The nature and scale of your actions will depend on your business context.
Create plans to respond to any negative human rights impacts your company may cause or contribute to as a result of business relationships with other parties.
Do you have processes to handle human rights complaints and adverse impacts?
Establish feedback channels for stakeholders to bring issues and complaints to your attention.
Put in place safeguards for employees, customers and stakeholders who may fear retaliation for speaking up such as a non-retaliation policy.
Consider remediation. When people’s human rights are negatively affected, it’s expected that your company will put it right and provide a remedy. Hold suppliers/partners accountable for any resolutions required on their end.
Is everyone within and outside your company aware of your human rights efforts?
Educate your staff. Build respect for human rights into your company culture. Ensure employees understand how to fulfil your human rights policy commitments.
Tell stakeholders. Make your human rights commitments publicly available (e.g., on your website) and use other ways, if possible, to be transparent about your human rights practices.
