New benchmark to gauge corporate performance in human rights

A group of investors, an NGO, a think tank and an investor research agency, have launched a project to rank companies on their human rights performance. A total of 500 of the top global companies from four key sectors - Agriculture, ICT, Apparel, and Extractives - will initially be researched and ranked to establish the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) .

The CHRB Steering Group is made up of Aviva Investors, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, Calvert Investments, EIRIS, Institute for Human Rights and Business and VBDO.

Steve Waygood of Aviva Investors said: "Our Benchmark will introduce a positive competitive environment as companies try to race to the top of the annual ranking. It will also shine a light on those where performance needs to improve.

“It took more than 60 years from the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights before the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights were developed. We believe that within six years of their approval, we can help to make these Guiding Principles routine corporate practice through the development and use of the Benchmark."

The Benchmark portal will be housed on the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre website here.

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