The European Union helps establish frameworks, but greater clarity is needed.
We recently celebrated the 75e anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). There are few causes more noble than the principles that seek to protect us as human beings – but should this be a topic for investors? Yes, it should be – although it still needs to be translated into a sales pitch, which can be difficult given the emotional chords it touches.
The UDHR, drawn up in December 1948, was born from the ashes of the Second World War and the creation of the United Nations. The world community has made a clear declaration that the atrocities committed during the war must never be repeated, and that human rights must be codified. The final document has been translated into 500 (!) languages1 and still remains a basis for human rights today.
Although the declaration is not legally binding, it has inspired the development of international human rights law and binding treaties, at least one of which has been ratified by all 193 UN member states.
It is now primarily the responsibility of governments to ensure that human rights are respected in their countries. So how can this question be relevant to investors? Social issues have become a concern for asset managers since the S became the central letter of ESG. No one doubts that they should be considered in the same way as environmental or governance issues – although they have often been seen as the middle child, without the weight of E and G.
Two aspects to consider
For investors, the relevance of social issues can be considered from two angles. The way in which companies manage their social issues can have a significant impact on their financial results or their business models (financial materiality). For example, a mining company should manage its relationships with communities well in order to maintain its operating license.
The 30 principles of the UDHR. Source: UN.
Unfortunately, there are tragic examples of situations where this has not been the case, as shown by the Brumadinho tailings dam disaster in Brazil in 2019, where 270 people lost their lives. In the textile sector, the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh in 2013, which killed 1,134 people, provides another tragic example. Managing labor issues in the supply chain is a key topic for fashion companies.
Social Challenges of Tech Companies: Data Protection and Employee Well-being
Telecommunications and information technology companies also face social problems. In today’s hyperconnected internet, social media companies must ensure that consumer data remains private and protected to avoid serious reputational risks. Video game companies have faced similar problems by failing to protect their staff from workplace abuse, a topic recently discussed as part of an engagement theme at Robeco.
What are the obligations of investors?
Beyond financial relevance, there is also impact relevance for investors. For business, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights2 describe how countries and businesses should respect human rights.
National governments have a duty to protect human rights and lay the foundations (laws) for business. They must provide effective guidance to companies on how to respect human rights throughout their activities, and encourage, or even require, companies to communicate on how they address their human rights impacts. man. Businesses must respect human rights and ensure access to redress.
How can an asset manager respect human rights?
The direct impact we have as investors is very limited. Reporting and due diligence directives in the EU still remain largely focused on the direct impacts of businesses (in their supply chains) and are less relevant to the financial sector. We encourage the EU to develop sectoral directives to make these directives more relevant to our business.
For asset managers, the impact is mainly indirect, through the management of portfolios of listed equities or fixed income securities.
Act on social issues
As investors, we can act on these issues in several ways. We can exclude companies involved in serious social violations, and we can engage with these companies to correct these violations, but also, more broadly, to implement the United Nations Guiding Principles on business and human rights.
Therefore, we need to structurally integrate financially relevant social issues into the investment decision-making process.
In summary, I firmly believe that investors can and must take social issues into account, both from the angle of financial materiality and from that of (legal) impact materiality. The (soft) legal requirements, frameworks and necessary data are in place to do this – it is above all a question of will.
1https://www.ohchr.org/en/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
2https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf
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