Prepared for the “Forging New Links: Promoting and Protecting Human Rights and the Environment” Roundtable held in San Francisco, CA, on January 14, 1999.
- Performance Based Standards: are the codes/practices adopted by the corporation, and the monitoring and evaluation, based upon measurable indicators of performance?
- Transparent Monitoring and Reporting: are the codes/practices and their implementation, monitoring and evaluation made public or reported to a public agency or other body for review by affected groups?
- Consensus Based: are the codes/practices adopted developed through consensus among affected groups? Environmental or human rights organizations? Industry organizations? UN or International agencies? Regulatory bodies?
- Comprehensive Coverage: are the codes/practices adopted by the corporations comprehensive in addressing the potential impacts to the environment, human health and human rights of the affected communities?
- Company-Wide Coverage: are the codes/practices implemented in one area of the corporation’s work or geographic locations of its subsidiaries or general activities?
- Accountability: is the corporation accountable to any entity (regulators, the public, its shareholders) for its implementation of the codes/practices it develops? Are there penalties for failure to comply? Or incentives to perform?
- Community Relations: do the codes/practices address the manner of relationship to be forged between government and/or corporate entity with the affected communities in which it is operating?
Below are links to summaries of selected reports providing proposed criteria for evaluating environmental and/or human rights practices. These are:
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
- International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development (ICHRDD)
- Proposal Under Discussion by NGOs in Preparation for the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 6)
- Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – Draft Corporate Governance Guidelines
- The New Directions Group (Canada)