"Investor respect for human rights and the case for stakeholder primacy," 28 Aug 2019

... What has so far been missing from the conversation... is a clear articulation of the responsibility that even shareholders have to respect stakeholders’ fundamental human rights throughout their investment choices and activities... By fueling the economy and businesses within it, shareholders pose risks to the broader interests of society in the same way portfolio companies might... Investors also have fiduciary responsibilities for ensuring that portfolio companies respect human rights since where there are the most severe risks to people and planet, there are material risks to business, including reputational harm, financial loss, and legal liabilities.

... While investors are not responsible for providing remedy when only directly linked to human rights harms, they in all cases have a responsibility to: (1) develop and embed their own human rights policies, (2) assess and prioritize the most severe risks to people throughout the investment lifecycle, (3) build and use their leverage to influence investee companies to prevent, mitigate, and where appropriate address adverse impacts, (4) track outcomes, (5) disclose their policies and practices, (6) provide remedy when they have caused or contributed to abuses, and (7) engage with impacted stakeholders (meaning rights-holders, their credible representatives, and expert organizations) all along the way... For the system to meaningfully change, shareholders must accept their own responsibilities and be held accountable for their investment practices. This means a changing of the tide away from from shareholder primacy and toward stakeholder primacy for all business actors.