Corporate Human Rights Reporting: An Analysis of Current Trends

Among the reports reviewed, a small number presented strong overall coverage of human rights relevant issues, while a larger number of reports presented interesting or innovative, but generally isolated, examples of human rights reporting on very specific issues. The review concluded that the quality of human rights reporting in 2009, in general, still falls far short when measured in relation to certain key principles and elements of good human rights reporting, including those defined by the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 Guidelines.

Areas in which the review found noteworthy examples of human rights reporting included stakeholder inclusion, reporting on the implementation of human rights-related policies and processes, and reporting on potential positive impacts on human rights. It found continued challenges in areas such as reporting more generally on potential negative impact on human rights, balanced reporting (presentation of both positive and negative aspects of an issue), completeness of reports, selection of the most relevant issues for inclusion in reports and placing information on performance in the wider sustainability context.

The review also points to areas for further discussion and debate, such as the integration of human rights issues into other sections of sustainability reports and the disclosure of human rights-related information in formats outside of formal sustainability reports. It is hoped that the findings of this analysis will contribute to the ongoing debate about how to improve corporate human rights reporting.