United Nations Charter, 1945: http://www.ohchr.org/english/docs/UNcharter.pdf
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 (366 languages): http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/index.htm
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966: http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/cescr.htm
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966: http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm
There are nine core international human rights treaties. Each of these treaties is supported by a committee of experts to monitor implementation of the treaty provisions by State parties. Some of the treaties are supplemented by optional protocols dealing with specific concerns. They can all be accessed at: http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/
By the end of June 2007, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) had adopted 188 Conventions and 199 Recommendations covering a broad range of subjects related to labour standards. These can be found at: http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Mainpillars/Therightsatwork/Labour_Standards/lang--en/index.htm
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The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre tracks the positive and negative human rights impacts of over 3000 businesses worldwide. The site is updated on a daily basis: http://www.business-humanrights.org/Home
For John Ruggie’s report to the UN and a wide range of related documents: http://www.business-humanrights.org/Gettingstarted/UNSpecialRepresentative
An introductory free online training course on Human Rights, from the UN: http://www.unssc.org/web/hrb/Default2.asp?mod=0&sec=0&cur=0
The United Nations Global Compact is the UN’s voluntary corporate responsibility initiative and the world’s largest. It offers a coherent framework for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption : http://www.unglobalcompact.org/index.html
A one page summary of key good business and human rights management practices: http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issues_doc/human_rights/Resources/A307HRF-E-PosterA2-130607.pdf
Links to and summaries of other major business and human rights guidance materials in a variety of languages: http://www.unglobalcompact.org/Issues/human_rights/Tools_and_Guidance_Materials.html
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published Guidelines which are recommendations addressed by governments to multinational enterprises operating in or from adhering countries: http://www.oecd.org/daf/investment/guidelines
‘A Guide for Integrating Human Rights into Business Management’, a joint report of the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights, the United Nations Global Compact and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: http://www.blihr.org/Pdfs/GIHRBM_text_version.pdf
‘Human Rights: It is your Business’, a paper summarising society’s expectations of business and describing good practice on the corporate response to business and human rights issues: http://www.iblf.org/docs/ItIsYrBusiness.pdf
Danish Institute for Human Rights, Human Rights Compliance Assessment Quick Check Tool: http://www.humanrightsbusiness.org/pdf_files/Quick%20Check%20English%20.pdf
Aim for Human Rights has produced ‘A Best Practice Guide to the Human Rights Compliance Assessment’ which includes a number of useful case studies: http://www.aimforhumanrights.org/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/HRB_Best_Practice_Guide_def.pdf
Global Reporting Initiative, Human Rights Performance Indicators Protocol: http://www.globalreporting.org/NR/rdonlyres/8EB7E930-F586-49CF-92B9-34833FA3C5C1/0/G3_IP_HumanRights.pdf
The Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights have been developed to guide companies in balancing the need for safety and security while respecting human rights: http://www.voluntaryprinciples.org/index.php
South Africa's policy of black economic empowerment (BEE) is an example of positive discrimination which is seen as a pragmatic growth strategy to realise the country's full economic potential: http://www.southafrica.info/business/trends/empowerment/bee.htm
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Some examples of human rights policies of banks and financial institutions:
The Equator Principles, a benchmark for the financial industry to manage social and environmental risks in project finance: http://www.equator-principles.com/
The Principles for Responsible Investment, voluntary and aspirational principles focusing on the incorporation of environmental, social and governance issues into mainstream investment decision-making and ownership practices: http://www.unpri.org/
The Wolfsberg Group is an association of twelve global banks, which aims to develop financial services industry standards, and related products, for Know Your Customer, Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing policies: http://www.wolfsberg-principles.com/index.html
Global Reporting Initiative, Sector Supplements Guidelines, Financial Services Industry Social Guidance: http://www.globalreporting.org/NR/rdonlyres/B1EF2733-3BC7-4916-819F-AF837AC6F8FB/0/SS_FinancialServicesSocial_ENG.pdf
Global Reporting Initiative, Sector Supplements guidelines, Financial Services Industry Environmental Guidance: http://www.globalreporting.org/NR/rdonlyres/0F09CCFF-C378-4B5F-9944-76E24679226B/0/SS_FinancialServicesEnvironmental_ENG.pdf
