BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS DIALOGUES
The dialogues are a series of interviews with business leaders from around the world on the importance of integrating human rights into business practice. Initial interviews were launched as podcasts to coincide with the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit, and further interviews will follow over the course of 2010 and 2011.
The interviews focus on how to perform various aspects of human rights due diligence in practice. They are designed to be of practical assistance to other business leaders from across sectors and geographies. Some of the themes to be covered include: leadership on human rights; creation/integration of a human rights policy; risk assessment; reporting and monitoring.
BOB CORCORAN
VICE PRESIDENT, CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP, THE GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY AND PRESIDENT OF THE GE FOUNDATION
Discusses: Getting started and showing leadership in integrating human rights into business management
"We’ve had a statement of principles on human rights in place since 2006 and it’s been very helpful to us as we’ve gone about the business of doing business, and doing it properly … It was clear from the very beginning that we needed an integrated approach. If the control or enforcement mechanism was a separate procedure and not embedded in core business processes, it would fail.”
For more information on GE's human rights and corporate citizenship visit their website
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ALEXANDRA GUAQUETA
CHIEF OF SOCIAL STANDARDS AND RELATIONS DIVISION, CERREJÓN / JEFE DE DIVISIÓN DE ESTÁNDARES SOCIALES Y RELACIONAMIENTO
Discusses: A rights-based approach: clarity, culture change and daily realities Debate: Una perspectiva /visión basada en los derechos: claridad, cambio cultural y realidad cotidiana
Interviews are available in English and Spanish
"It’s been about introducing a rights-based approach to Corporate Social Responsibility – it’s a process in the company of unpacking the meaning of human rights. In the Colombian context people associate human rights violations with torture and with massacres, but there are other rights at stake - it’s about labour rights, it’s about the rights of community to livelihood as affected by the environmental impact of the operation, so we’re talking here about economic and cultural rights ...”
For more information on Cerrejon and human rights visit their website in English or Spanish
Para obtener más información sobre Cerrejón y los derechos humanos visitar su página en Inglés o Español
For more information on this series, click here