Listen to Sarah Dadush, founder of the Responsible Contracting Project, writer and professor in business and human rights at Rutgers Law School
In this Frankly Speaking episode, we explore the question of human rights due diligence by companies by asking what should go in the contract. Due diligence approaches have been criticized as simply using contractual clauses to pass off risk and responsibility down the supply chain.
To address how this can be avoided and to discuss what should and shouldn’t be in the contract, Richard Howitt welcomes Professor Sarah Dadush, writer and teacher in business and human rights at Rutgers Law School in the United States. She is the founding director of the Responsible Contracting Project, the mission of which is to improve human rights in global supply chains through innovative contracting practices. Check out Responsible Contracting Project's website to access all their tools.
In this episode, you’ll hear more about:
“ The responsibility for companies to respect human rights has been widely recognized. It's inalienable. You can't just use your contract to pass it on to someone else. To be due diligence-aligned, contracts should integrate the three R's of responsible contracting, which are: (1) responsible allocation of risks and responsibilities, (2) responsible purchasing practices, (3) remediation first and responsible exit.”
There's very little pressure being applied to companies by investors looking at how they're actually behaving and treating human rights as a core business priority. This needs to change.
Investors shouldn't just take companies' word for what they're doing; they should investigate what the companies are actually doing regarding human rights.
Germany's NewClimate Institute has produced the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor report, evaluating the transparency and integrity of climate pledges of 51 major companies across different sectors and geographies.
