Article
Dec 24
Back

DETERMINING THE CONTENT OF CORPORATE REPORTING ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Ana Čertanec

10.51204/Anali_PFBU_21406A
ABSTRACT /

Business enterprises have to report their activities to stakeholders in order to provide corporate transparency. Non-financial corporate reports provide a comprehensive coverage of environmental, socio-economic, labor, health, and human rights issues. In the paper the author argues that a uniform definition of a sector-specific human rights issue in reporting frameworks, rather than self-identification by enterprises of salient human rights issues, would help to achieve standardization and thus the possibility of sanctions in the event of false or misleading reporting. The author analyzes existing international and regional non-financial reporting instruments regarding the human rights included in it. The main content issues of non-financial reporting are derived and given requirements to improve them. The author further analyzes whether the two main frameworks for human rights reporting (the GRI Standards and the UNGPs Reporting Framework) currently meet the requirements for content defined in the paper and, if not, how they can be changed.

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE ARTICLE /
English  
REFERENCES /
  1. Bilchitz, David. 2013. A chasm between ‘is’ and ‘ought’? A critique of the normative foundations of the SRSG’s Framework and the Guiding Principles. 107–137 in Human Rights Obligations of Business: Beyond the Corporate Responsibility to Respect?, edited by Surya Deva and David Bilchitz. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139568333.009
  2. Bratina, Borut, Andreja Primec. 2017. Izdelava poslovnih poročil, izjav o upravljanju ter izjav o nefinančnih informacijah v konsolidiranih letnih poročilih in letnih poročilih posameznih gospodarskih družb. Podjetje in delo 43/6–7: 977–988.
  3. Buhmann, Karin. 2006. Corporate social responsibility: what role for law? Some aspects of law and CSR. Corporate Governance: The international journal of business in society 6: 188–202, https://doi.org/10.1108/14720700610655187 (last visited 18 November, 2021).  https://doi.org/10.1108/14720700610655187
  4. Buhmann, Karin. 2018. Neglecting the Proactive Aspect of Human Rights Due Diligence? A Critical Appraisal of the EU’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive as a Pillar One Avenue for Promoting Pillar Two Action. Bus. Hum. Rights J. 3: 23–45. https://doi.org/10.1017/bhj.2017.24
  5. Commission of the European Communities. 2001. Green Paper “Promoting a European framework for corporate social responsibility”, COM (2001) 366.
  6. Corporate Register. n.d. Live Charts. http://www.corporateregister.com/livecharts/?chart=1&cou=All&sec=All&sub=All&our=All (last visited 1 July, 2021).
  7. Cragg, Brittany T. 2010. Home is Where the Halt is: Mandating Corporate Social Responsibility through Home State Regulation and Social Disclosure. Emory Int. Law Rev. 24: 735–775.
  8. CHRB. 2020. Corporate Human Rights Benchmark Methodology 2020. For the Agricultural Products, Apparel and Extractives Industries. https://assets.worldbenchmarkingalliance.org/app/uploads/2021/03/CHRB2020MethodologyAGAPEX.pdf (last visited 15 August, 2021).
  9. Čertanec, Ana. 2019. The connection between Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Respect for Human Rights. DANUBE 10: 103–128, https://doi.org/10.2478/danb-2019–0006 (last visited 18 November, 2021). https://doi.org/10.2478/danb-2019-0006
  10. Čertanec, Ana. 2020. The impact of corporate respect for human rights on the competitiveness and long-term business stability. International Journal of Contemporary Business and Entrepreneurship 1: 13–37, https://doi.org/10.47954/ijcbe.1.2.2 (last visited 18 November, 2021). https://doi.org/10.47954/ijcbe.1.2.2
  11. De Felice, Damiano. 2015. Business and Human Rights Indicators to Measure the Corporate Responsibility to Respect: Challenges and Opportunities. Human Rights Quarterly 37: 511–555. https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2015.0031
  12. De la Vega, Constance, Amol Mehra. 2009. International Legal Accountability over Non-State Actors: An Analysis of the Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary General. Zeitschrift für Menschenrechte 3: 26–40.
  13. Economic and Social Council. 2006. Interim Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, E/CN.4/2006/97.
  14. Emeseh, Engobo, Ondotimi Songi. 2014. CSR, human rights abuse and sustainability report accountability. International Journal of Law and Management 56: 136–151. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLMA-01-2013-0001
  15. European Commission. 2013. Commission staff working document: Impact assessment. Accompanying the document Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC as regards disclosure of nonfinancial and diversity information by certain large companies and groups, SWD (2013) 127 final.
  16. European Commission. 2017. Communication from the Commission, Guidelines on non-financial reporting (methodology for reporting non-financial information), C (2017) 4234 final.
  17. European Commission. 2020. Inception MPACT Assessment: Revision of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive. Ref. Ares(2020)580716.
  18. Freyman, Judi. 2011. Corporate Social Responsibility: A Rapidly Changing Landscape. EHS Today, 10 October, 54–60.
  19. GRI. 2018. GRI 412: Human Rights Assessment 2016.  https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/media/1027/gri-412-human-rights-assessment-2016.pdf/ (last visited 1 March, 2020).
  20. GRI. n.d. About Sustainability reporting. https://www.globalreporting.org/information/sustainability-reporting/Pages/default.aspx (last visited
    1 July, 2021).
  21. GRI. 2021a. The global standards for sustainability reporting. https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/ (last visited 1 November, 2021).
  22. GRI. 2021b. Topic Standard Project for Human Rights. https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/standards-development/topic-standard-project-for-human-rights/ (last visited 1 November, 2021).
  23. Haller, Axel, Michael Link, Tobias Groß. 2017. The Term ‘Non-financial Information’ – A Semantic Analysis of a Key Feature of Current and Future Corporate Reporting. Accounting in Europe. 14: 407–429, https://doi.org/10.1080/17449480.2017.1374548 (last visited 18 November, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1080/17449480.2017.1374548
  24. Hess, David. 2008. The Three Pillars of Corporate Social Reporting as New Governance Regulation: Disclosure, Dialogue, and Development. Bus Ethics Q 18: 447–482. https://doi.org/10.5840/beq200818434
  25. Hess, David. 2019. The Transparency Trap: Non-Financial Disclosure and the Responsibility of Business to Respect Human Rights. American Business Law Journal 561: 5–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/ablj.12134
  26. Human Rights Council. 2011. Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-
  27. General human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework, UN Doc. A/HRC/17/31.
  28. International Labour Organization (ILO). n.d. Industries and sectors. https://www.ilo.org/global/industries-and-sectors/lang–en/index.htm (last visited 15 August, 2021).
  29. International Organization for Standardization. 2010. ISO 26000 – Guidance on social responsibility. www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/iso26000.htm (last visited 1 July, 2020).
  30. Jägers, Nicola. 2013. Will Transnational Private Regulation Close the Governance Gap? 295–328 in Human Rights Obligations of Business: Beyond the Corporate Responsibility to Respect?, edited by Surya Deva and David Bilchitz. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139568333.018
  31. Korže, Branko. 2019. The right of small and medium-sized enterprises to positive discrimination in free market competition. Danube 10: 321–345. https://doi.org/10.2478/danb-2019-0017
  32. Letnar Černič, Jernej. 2011. Corporate Human Rights Obligations: Towards Binding International Legal Obligations? Dignitas 49–50: 55–104.
  33. Martin-Ortega, Olga. 2019. Due diligence, reporting and transparency in supply chains: The United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act. 110–121 in Business and Human Rights in Europe: International Law Challenges, edited by Angelica Bonfanti. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429443169-10
  34. Martin-Ortega, Olga, Johanna Hoekstra. 2019. Reporting as a Means to Protect and Promote Human Rights? The EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive. European Law Review 44: 622–645.
  35. Matten, Dirk, Jeremy Moon. 2008. “Implicit” and “Explicit” CSR: A Conceptual Framework for a Comparative Understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility. Acad Manage Rev 33: 404–424. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2008.31193458
  36. Meek, Gary K., Clare B. Roberts, Sidney J. Gray. 1995. Factors Influencing Voluntary Annual Report Disclosures by US, UK, and Continental European Multinational Corporations. J. Int. Bus. Stud. 26: 555–572. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490186
  37. Mehra, Amol, Sara Blackwell. 2016. The Rise of Non-financial Disclosure: Reporting on Respect for Human rights. 276–283 in Business and Human Rights: From Principles to Practice, edited by Dorothée Baumann-Pauly and Justine Nolan. Abindon and New York: Routledge.
  38. Michelon, Giovanna, Silvia Pilonato, Federica Ricceri. 2015. CSR Reporting Practices and the Quality of Disclosure: An Empirical Analysis. Critical Persp. Acct. 33: 59–78, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2014.10.003 (last visited 18 November, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2014.10.003
  39. Moratis, Lars, Timo Cochius. 2011. ISO 26000: The Business Guide to the New Standard on Social Responsibility. Sheffield: Greenleaf Pub.
  40. Muchlinski, Peter. 2001. Human Rights and Multinationals: Is There a Problem? International Affairs 77: 31–47. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.00176
  41. OECD. 2011. OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264115415-en (last visited 1 July, 2020). https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264115415-en
  42. OECD. n.d. OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct. https://mneguidelines.oecd.org/duediligence/ (last visited 15 August, 2021).
  43. Perrini, Francesco. 2006. The Practitioner’s Perspective on Non-Financial Reporting. Calif Manage Rev 48: 73–103. https://doi.org/10.2307/41166339
  44. Reynolds, MaryAnn, Kristi Yuthas. 2008. Moral Discourse and Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting. J. Bus. Ethics 78: 47–64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9316-x
  45. Ruggie, John G. 2013. Just Business: Multinational Corporations and Human Rights, 1st ed. New York and London: Norton.
  46. Sarfaty, Galit. 2013. Regulating Through Numbers: A Case Study of Corporate Sustainability Reporting. Va. J. Int’l L. 53: 575–621.
  47. Searcy, Cory, Ruvena Buslovich. 2014. Corporate Perspectives on the Development and Use of Sustainability Reports. J. Bus. Ethics 121: 149–169.
  48. Shabana, Kareem M., Ann K. Buchholtz, Archie B. Carroll. 2017. The Institutionalization of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting. Bus Soc., 56: 1107–1135, https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650316628177 (last visited 18 November, 2021.
  49. Shift and Mazars. 2015. The UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework. https://www.ungpreporting.org/framework-guidance (last visited 1 July, 2020).
  50. Shift and Mazars. n.d. About us. https://www.ungpreporting.org/about-us (last visited 1 July 2020).
  51. Tschopp, Daniel, Michael Nastanski. 2014. The Harmonization and Convergence of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting Standards. J. Bus. Ethics 125: 147–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1906-9
  52. UN Environment Programme, KPMG International, Global Reporting Initiative, University of Stellenbosch. Business School. Unit for Corporate Governance in Africa. 2010. Carrots and Sticks – Promoting Transparency and Sustainability: An update on trends in Voluntary and Mandatory Approaches to Sustainability Reporting. https://www.carrotsandsticks.net/media/zqthaaim/carrots-sticks-2010.pdf (last visited 1 July, 2021).
  53. UN Environment Programme, KPMG International, Global Reporting Initiative, University of Stellenbosch. Business School. Unit for Corporate Governance in Africa. 2016. Carrots and Sticks: Global trends in sustainability reporting regulation and policy. https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2016/05/carrots-and-sticks-may-2016.pdf (last visited 1 July, 2021).
  54. UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 2012. The Corporate Responsibility To Respect Human Rights: An Interpretive Guide, HR/PUB/12/02 http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/HR.PUB.12.2_En.pdf (last visited 1 July, 2020).
  55. WBCSD. 2002. Sustainable development reporting: Striking the balance. http://docs.wbcsd.org/2002/12/SustainableDevReporting-StrikingTheBalance.pdf (last visited 1 July, 2020).
  56. World Benchmark Alliance. n.d. Corporate Human Rights Benchmark. https://www.worldbenchmarkingalliance.org/publication/chrb/ (last visited 15 August, 2021).
  57. World Conference on Human Rights. 1993. Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 12 July, A/CONF.15/23.