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See also the following sections of this website:

• Company statements of policy on human rights: Examples
• Corporate codes of conduct
• Company reports on human rights issues
• Links: Companies

General materials:

2003:

FTSE4Good raises the bar for companies - FTSE Group recently announced a new, more stringent set of human rights criteria for companies in the socially responsible index series FTSE4Good...FTSE are trialling the human rights standards on the global upstream oil gas and mining sector...They are asking companies to commit to ILO core labour standards on a global scale, support publicly the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, have guidelines on the use of armed security guards according to the UN Basic Principles of the Use of Force and Firearms and to reference “respect of the rights of indigenous peoples”. In order to stay in the FTSE4Good Index, companies will also have to provide training for employees on human rights policy, provide evidence of undertaking a human rights impact assessment and integration of their policy into risk assessment processes...In countries of particular concern such as Angola, China, Burma, Zimbabwe and Sudan, resource companies must commit to meeting more stringent guidelines (Tobias Webb, Ethical Corporation Magazine, 21 Apr. 2003)

First ever Human Rights Checklist for Business launched - As US firms and others line up for the post-war fruits of Iraq reconstruction contracts, Amnesty International launches today (7 April) the first ever human rights checklist for companies. The new booklet summarises existing international law, treaties and codes on human rights relevant to business, and will help those in the bidding for contracts in Iraq ensure they do not become guilty of human rights abuses during the critical rebuilding period. The six-page Amnesty International publication, The Human Rights Responsibilities of Companies, is a quick and easy guide to implementing human rights policies. (Amnesty International UK, 7 Apr. 2003)

• full report: The human rights responsibilities of companies - New draft UN Norms provide guidelines for business [scroll down to bottom of page to download] (Amnesty International UK, March 2003)

Office Depot Commits to Develop All-Encompassing Environmental Policy [USA] - Office Depot, Inc., the world's largest seller of recycled paper products, today announced additional efforts to bolster its leadership position on key environmental issues related to the office supplies industry. These measures include the development of a comprehensive environmental policy. (Office Depot, 7 Apr. 2003)

Unocal adopts company-wide principles - Unocal Corporation has announced the adoption of new corporate principles covering fundamental rights, such as freedom from discrimination in employment, the elimination of child labour and freedom of association and collective bargaining. The move was welcomed by the Amalgamated Bank, which was one of the company's investors that had urged the company to take the step in a shareholder resolution that won 32.8 percent support at the company's AGM - at the time the largest ever such vote of support recorded for a human rights motion...Unocal has been the focus of criticism due to its business activities in Myanmar - particularly alleged complicity with the actions of security services who committed various human rights violations. (Business Respect newsletter No. 52, 15 Mar. 2003)

Use kid gloves in handling claims of discrimination or harassment [USA] - There are simple ways employers can more effectively cooperate with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission while creating a better environment for the resolution of employment issues. These guidelines will minimize both the risk of claims and potential liability should a claim be asserted. (Stephen W. Schueler, Winstead Sechrest & Minick PC, in Houston Business Journal, 14 Mar. 2003)

ICICI Onesource Evolves New Code Against Sexual Harassment [India] - Corporates are slowly waking up to issues of sexual harassment in the workplace and how they will impact employees. At ICICI Onesource Ltd, it’s therefore deploying initiatives that will therefore better team management and awareness enhancement. A new internal policy on sexual harassment has also been evolved. This has been formulated after conducting benchmarking studies with corporates like GE, Wipro Ltd and Infosys. (Tarun Narayan, Financial Express [India], 12 Mar. 2003)

ExxonMobil Receives 23 Shareowner Resolutions on Issues Ranging from Climate Change to Corporate Governance -...The social resolutions filed with ExxonMobil ask the company to implement a sexual orientation nondiscrimination policy, review and implement human rights standards, affirm political nonpartisanship, and report on the impact of AIDS on operations. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 26 Feb. 2003)

"Human Rights and Corporate Accountability" (speech by Mary Robinson, Director of the Ethical Globalization Initiative, former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, at The Fund for Peace - Human Rights and Business Roundtable, 19 Feb. 2003)

HRC co-files resolution urging ExxonMobil to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination - The Human Rights Campaign has joined the New York City Employees' Retirement System in filing a shareholder resolution calling on ExxonMobil to add sexual orientation to its written non-discrimination policy. (Wayne Besen, Human Right Campaign, 14 Jan. 2003)

2002:

Shredded Ideals at Business Ethics -...Business Ethics is a magazine devoted to a movement that crusades for what it calls CSR, which stands for "corporate social responsibility."...Now, the folks at Business Ethics are in a sad state of hand-wringing, soul-searching and existential angst. The general tone is summed up in the headline and subhead of a column by contributing writer Milton Moskowitz: "What Has CSR Really Accomplished? Much of the movement has been a public relations smoke screen."...Equally cynical and depressed is the editor of Business Ethics, Marjorie Kelly. "The lesson," Kelly writes, "is that all the things CSR has been measuring and fighting for and applauding may be colossally beside the point." The corporate social responsibility movement considered Enron a great company, she writes: "It won a spot for three years on the list of the 100 Best Companies to Work for. . . . It had great policies on climate change, human rights and (yes indeed) anti-corruption. Its CEO gave speeches at ethics conferences." (Peter Carlson, Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2002)

Volkswagen signs code of conduct - The IMF [International Metalworkers' Federation] welcomes the "Declaration on Social Rights and Industrial Relationships at Volkswagen", the first Code of Conduct for a worldwide player in the automotive industry...The Declaration states that the principles of core labour standards - which are defined in a number of conventions of the International Labour Organisation - will be assured within Volkswagen (International Metalworkers' Federation, 7 June 2002)

• full text of declaration: "Declaration on Social Rights and Industrial Relationships at Volkswagen" (Volkswagen, 6 June 2002)

Shareholders blast ExxonMobil - Criticism runs gamut from human rights to compensation - ExxonMobil shareholders on Wednesday lit into the oil-and-gas giant and Chairman Lee Raymond at the annual meeting, criticizing the company's practices on everything from renewable energy sources to the appointment of board members. (Lisa Sanders, CBS.MarketWatch, 29 May 2002)

• [Amnesty International USA] Update May 29, 2002: 374 million shares voted in favor - Today at ExxonMobil's annual shareholder meeting, approximately 374 million shares representing over $15 billion in shareholder equity were voted in favor of a human rights policy resolution sponsored by Amnesty International. While the vote represented only about 6.8% of the over 5.5 billion shares voted, it is far in excess of the 3% minimum required to reintroduce the proposal next year. (Amnesty International USA, 29 May 2002)

• Exxon Mobil shareholders dodge protesters as meeting begins - Shareholders of Exxon Mobil Corp. backed management Wednesday on a series of contentious issues but signaled strong support to promote renewable energy and explicitly ban discrimination against gays. (David Koenig, AP, 29 May 2002)

• Activist Shareholders Get 'Huge Win' With Over 20% in ExxonMobil Global-Warming Resolution Vote - More than Doubled Vote Total Boosts Efforts to Change ExxonMobil's Isolation on Global Warming (Campaign ExxonMobil, 29 May 2002)

• A resolution demanding Exxon outline its future plans for the promotion of renewable energy gained an unprecedented 20.3 percent of shareholders' votes - $55 billion in shares - at the company's annual meeting in Dallas Texas. (StopEsso coalition, 30 May 2002)

• Deaf Exxon -...A proposal to be put to a shareholder vote, requiring the group to develop a plan for renewable energy, has won the support of Institutional Shareholder Services, an important American proxy services firm which advises big investors how they should vote. So, too, has another proposal, requiring Exxon to prohibit discrimination against gay workers. (Guardian [UK], 30 May 2002) [note: this is a sub-article which appears under the article entitled: "Problems for over-energetic Cheney"...scroll down the page]

[CalPERS decides to vote its 30,828,796 shares of ExxonMobil in favour of shareholder proposal filed by Amnesty International USA calling on the company to adopt a comprehensive human rights policy] - Shareholder Proposal: Adopt comprehensive human rights policy - For - CalPERS is a supporter of best practices in domestic and international operations (CalPERS, Proxy Voting Decisions for 29 May 2002 shareholder meeting of ExxonMobil)

All Things Considered [NPR radio programme]: Exxon Shareholders [audio] - Commentator Chip Pitts says tomorrow in Dallas, Exxon-Mobil will hold its annual shareholders' meeting. Representatives of Amnesty International will also be present. The non-profit organization has bought shares in Exxon-Mobil so that it can introduce a shareholder resolution -- a human rights policy for the corporation. (All Things Considered, NPR, 28 May 2002)

Big Unocal Shareholder Support For Worker Rights Proposal: No new investments in Burma, energy giant pledges - A resolution calling on energy multinational Unocal to adopt a workers' rights policy was supported by over 31 percent of the shares voting at the company's annual shareholder meeting in the US this Monday. (ICEM - International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, 22 May 2002

• Worker Shareholders Challenge Unocal's Plans for New Investment in Burma And Ask for Commitment to Global Labor Standards (AFL-CIO, 20 May 2002)

• Investors to back TUC action on Burma - A number of large UK institutional investors will vote in favour of a shareholder resolution at the AGM of US energy company Unocal today (Monday), following a global trade union campaign. (TUC, 20 May 2002)

Mandatory social reporting – an idea whose time has come?...there should be a mandatory requirement for all companies to state their policy regarding social responsibility, human rights and environmental performance (even if the company’s decision is not to have a policy on some or all of these issues). The second [issue to address immediately] is to implement legislation requiring mandatory social and environmental reporting. (Peter Frankental, Business Group Manager of Amnesty International UK, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 13 May 2002)

ExxonMobil Shareholder Resolution Seeks Corporate Human Rights Policy: In First Shareholder Action, Amnesty International Cites Risk to Corporate Reputation of Ignoring Social Responsibility - In advance of ExxonMobil's shareholder meeting May 29, Amnesty International is seeking support for a shareholder resolution calling on ExxonMobil to adopt a comprehensive, transparent, and verifiable human rights policy to guide the company's business operations and protect communities affected by the company's global operations. (Amnesty International USA, 19 Apr. 2002)

• ExxonMobil Shareholder Action (Amnesty International USA)

• The Human Rights Policy Resolution [requesting that "the Board of Directors of ExxonMobil Corporation develop and adopt a comprehensive and verifiable human rights policy which shall include an explicit commitment to support and uphold the principles and values contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"] (submitted by Amnesty International USA)

• Letter to 12 state and city financial officers signed by AIUSA CFO Gary Giscombe on behalf of the ten co-filers of the Human Rights Policy Resolution (Amnesty International USA, 1 Mar. 2002)

• sample letter to Exxon from shareholders (Amnesty International USA)

• sample letter to Exxon from non-shareholders (Amnesty International USA)

Sample Letter for Concerned Customers and Shareholders of ExxonMobil - ICCR-Member religious investors, along with Amnesty International, are pressing ExxonMobil to create a comprehensive, verifiable human rights policy...You can send the following letter to CEO Lee Raymond (Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, 17 Apr. 2002)

Survey: Nearly 90 percent Indian firms have no human rights policy -..."Only 12 per cent of the companies surveyed responded that they have a policy on human rights, with another 35 percent saying they had a policy on anti-discrimination against women/ men, caste and religion." (CSR World, based on article in The Business Standard [India], 15 Apr. 2002)

SEC Requires ExxonMobil to Include Shareowner Resolutions on Proxy [USA] -...The SEC had only one amendment to the third shareowner resolution that will appear on ExxonMobil’s proxy, which was filed by Amnesty International and involved human rights. The words “we believe” must appear before the resolution’s statement that the company does not possess a comprehensive human rights policy. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 4 Apr. 2002)

Business and Human Rights: Policy commitments and disclosure in the extractive sector [A comparison of policies and practices on human rights issues from seven multinational extractive companies: BG, BP, BHP Billiton, BOC, Premier Oil, Rio Tinto, Shell] (Lucy Amis & Dave Prescott, International Business Leaders Forum, Apr. 2002)

Beyond corporate gloss: FTSE 100 fall short on social reporting - According to consultants Environmental Resources Management, 79 of FTSE 100 companies now publish at least some information on social issues that impact employees and shareholders. But very few have begun to move beyond ‘corporate gloss’ in their policy statements. (Karen Lindsay, Accountancy online [UK], 9 Jan. 2002)

• ERM Survey Casts Doubt Over Caring Qualities Of FTSE 100 Companies: FTSE 100 companies are making great progress in reporting on the social impacts of their activities. But most have yet to demonstrate real performance improvements on key social issues...Very few companies, for instance, have begun to move beyond 'corporate gloss' in their policy statements to providing performance information on real issues that impact employees and other key stakeholders. (ERM - Environmental Resources Management, 11 Dec. 2001)

2001:

Amnesty to ExxonMobil: Do the Right Thing - earlier this year Amnesty USA filed its first shareholder resolution. The resolution asks ExxonMobil to adopt a "human rights policy which shall include an explicit commitment to support and uphold the principles and values contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." [based on interview of Mort Winston, Amnesty USA’s former Board Chair and current head of its Business and Economic Relations Group] (Simon Billenness, Trillium Asset Management, in Investing for a Better World, Dec. 2001)

Protecting Human Rights is a Strategic Business Issue (Ford Motor Company, in 2000 Corporate Citizenship Report, May 2001)