Global Compact International Yearbook Ausgabe 2011

Best Practice
Human Rights
Nestlé
Partnership between
Nestlé and the Danish
Institute for Human Rights
By Christian Frutiger and Allan Lerberg Jørgensen
In 2010, Nestlé entered into a two-year partnership with the Danish Institute for
Human Rights (DIHR). The purpose of this collaboration is to ensure that the company’s
responsibility to respect human rights is understood and implemented within Nestlé’s global
operations, and that the learning from this work can encourage other companies to follow.
The Nestlé-DIHR partnership coincides
with the culmination of the mandate
of the UN Special Representative for
Business and Human Rights (SRSG).
Part of the Nestlé-DIHR collaboration
is about making the SRSG principles
on human rights due diligence operational
and practical wherever Nestlé
operates.
“The work with the Danish Institute for
Human Rights will help us accelerate our
journey to become one of the leading
companies in the international business
and human rights field,” says Jean-Marc
Duvoisin, Nestlé’s Global Head of Human
Resources.
“There is still a lot that the human rights
community and the business community
have to learn from each other. We have
a responsibility to work together to accomplish
the goals that we share,” says
DIHR Deputy Director Charlotte Flindt
Pedersen.
Corporate human rights gap analysis
The collaboration between Nestlé and
DIHR began in 2008, when DIHR carried
out a comprehensive human rights gap
analysis of all corporate policies, procedures,
and systems across eight function
areas in Nestlé: Human Resources;
Health and Safety; Environment; Security;
Products and Marketing; Research
and Development; and Supply Chain.
This work fed into the new human
rights and labor section of the Nestlé
Corporate Business Principles (NCBP),
and also led to the introduction in 2010
of the Nestlé Transparency Policy and
the Nestlé Employee Relations Policy. In
June 2010 the company also formally
recognized the human right to water,
even before its official recognition by
the UN General Assembly and the Human
Rights Council.
Margaret Jungk, Director of DIHR’s Human
Rights and Business Department,
notes that “for DIHR this a unique opportunity
to influence human rights
implementation in a company that
touches the lives of millions of people,
including workers, consumers, and rural
communities, and at the same time we
can help develop approaches that can
later benefit the wider human rights
and business field.”
Human rights impact assessment in
Nestlé operations
In 2010 and 2011 the corporate-level human
rights gap analysis was followed up
with two comprehensive human rights
impact assessments by DIHR of Nestlé’s
operations in Colombia and Nigeria.
These included consultations with trade
unions, authorities, NGOs, and farmers in
order to analyze the company’s impacts
at a local level.
Together with the corporate-level gap
analysis, the concrete assessment of potential
impacts on the ground provided
the company with a 360 degree perspective
on current and future human rights
and labor challenges.
The impact-assessment process used by
DIHR and Nestlé is based on two indicator
tools developed by DIHR. The first
tool uses a number of Human Rights
Impact Scenarios (HRIS) to develop a
risk-based mapping of potential human
rights impacts. Subsequently, the
Human Rights Compliance Assessment
tool (HRCA) is used as a benchmark for
reviewing the company’s prevention
and management of potential human
rights impacts.
The use of specific indicators has proved
to be effective to better understand human
rights issues and engage stakeholders
in a meaningful way. The DIHR
involved Nestlé’s internal issue owners
directly in the assessment and in the
development of action plans. This approach
has helped Nestlé to ensure that
the learning gathered throughout this
partnership stays with those who actually
manage human rights challenges in
their daily operations. This knowledge
base will continue to inform the way
Nestlé addresses human rights in the
years to come.
“This is the most constructive and professional
public-private partnership I have
seen in a long time,” says Janet Voûte,
Nestlé Vice President Public Affairs.
Next steps
Several more of such impact assessments
are being planned for 2011 and 2012.
In parallel to this, human rights are
being integrated into Nestlé’s Enterprise
Risk Management system, and in
2011 a human rights and labor training
program will be provided for employees
in high-risk countries. Finally,
Nestlé’s CARE external audit program
will be completely reviewed by Nestlé
and the DIHR in order to ensure coverage
of the entire NCBP human rights
spectrum.
About
Nestlé is the world’s leading
Nutrition, Health, and Wellness
company, with 450 factories all
over the world – half of them
in developing countries. The
mandatory Nestlé Corporate
Business Principles (NCBP) –
endorsed by the Chairman and
CEO – guide the behavior of the
company’s more than 280,000
employees. A revised version of
the NCBP was developed in 2010
and the Human Rights Policy
Section (chapter 4) was further
expanded. Nestlé recognizes
the “corporate responsibility to
respect human rights,” as outlined
in the UN Framework for Business
and Human Rights of John Ruggie,
UN Special Representative on
Business and Human Rights.
NCBP compliance is monitored
through external audits under
the Nestlé CARE program and
internally by the Group Audit
function.
The Danish Institute for Human
Rights is an independent National
Human Rights Institution
modeled in accordance with
the UN Paris Principles.
Established in 1987 by an act
of Danish Parliament, DIHR’s
mandate encompasses
research, education, and
implementation of human rights
programs in Denmark as well as
internationally. With 120 full-time
staff, DIHR is operational in more
than 30 countries. In 1999 DIHR
became one of the first human
rights organizations in the world
to establish a human rights and
business program and has since
worked with leading multinational
companies in a variety of industry
sectors.
78 Global Compact International Yearbook 2011 Global Compact International Yearbook 2011
79