"Starting from the top: governance matters for human rights, as GNI assessment report shows," 14 May 2020

Transparency is one piece of corporate accountability; governance is another. Without robust governance mechanisms, corporate respect for human rights will be inconsistent at best... [T]he rush to implement tech solutions...[during the Covid-19 pandemic] has revealed the dangers of making human rights an afterthought in developing tech tools. As use of tech products increased due to the health crisis, recent examples of tech companies backpedaling to improve their human rights practices demonstrate why companies need robust internal governance mechanisms.

[The] Global Network Initiative (GNI) public assessment report...provides recommendations to member companies across four categories: governance, due diligence and risk management, freedom of expression and privacy in practice, and transparency and engagement...GNI made more recommendations on governance than on any other category...the recommendations focused on building better internal structures and providing human rights training to employees to ensure that human rights are integrated throughout business operations... We urge companies to take these steps to implement robust governance mechanisms and to ensure consistent respect for human rights in all their business operations. [Refers to Facebook, MTN, Verizon, Zoom]