Coverage of UN Forum: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

The second day of the UN Forum was one of open dialogue on progress among stakeholders with a dose of sobering reality-checks.   

Unilever and Nestlé were featured as best practice examples in the opening plenary sessions.  As Sharan Burrow of the International Trade Union Confederation put it, “the Paul Polmans of the world need to be cloned”, referring to Unilever’s CEO who consistently emphasises his company’ strong commitment to human rights.  Nestlé’s CEO Paul Bulcke shared this conviction and highlighted the importance of dialogue: “There cannot be a successful economy/industry without connecting positively with society…When we are criticised, it is up to us to connect with stakeholders.”  This open attitude to engagement and dialogue was reflected throughout business participants’ contributions during the day.

But is this true across the board or primarily in large multinationals attending the UN Forum?  Mo Ibrahim rightfully noted the shortage of smaller and medium companies in the conversation.  Although integrating human rights into Nestlé’s and Unilever’s vast supply chains will go a long way, we must not lose sight of national companies and SMEs lest they fall into the cracks.  Transparency is key to expose companies’ conduct regardless of size or power.

Sharan Burrow of ITUC was one of the participants today who injected a dose of reality into the discussions (see full speech here).  She reminded participants that the majority of workers face “increasingly precarious employment and struggling on poverty wages on which they cannot live and raise a family with dignity.”  In a memorable exchange, Sharan also firmly pushed back on the Qatar delegation’s intervention by noting that the kafala system is equivalent to modern day slavery and invited the delegation for serious dialogue on the issue.

The afternoon sessions continued to feature encouraging collaborations between companies and civil society.  Vale and Human Rights Watch spoke about working with communities in Mozambique on resettlement issues; Inditex and IndustriALL elaborated on the importance of their joint Global Framework Agreement for core labour rights in Turkey; and Nestlé, ICI and Oxfam spoke of the value of working together to combat child labour and support women’s rights in West Africa.  As Phil Bloomer of Business & Human Rights Resource Centre put it, there was a shocking amount of common sense about each cross-sector collaboration.  Such open dialogue is encouraging to see at conferences, but also needs to occur much more often on the ground.

It is important not to look at business community as a monolithic entity and recognise the unique drivers that will bring them into the conversation.  Whether we are talking about SMEs, state-owned vs. private enterprises, or companies with domestic vs. international operations, the UN Guiding Principles apply to all equally.  However, it is up to us to help them recognise this responsibility and act on it.  As Michael Addo of the UN Working Group said, “we have talked the talk; now it is time to walk the walk.”