Some 28 companies have been named and shamed in a report for declining to engage with the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB).
The companies, which include household names such as Kraft Heinz, Macy’s, Hermes and Prada, had some of the lowest scores in the benchmark, which the CHRB said indicated a lack of transparency and public commitment to managing human rights risks and impacts.
The CHRB, is a non-profit organisation which ranks corporate performance on human rights. It is backed by Aviva Investors, APG Asset Management and Nordea and supported by the UK, Dutch and Swiss governments.
The organisation said the companies had not responded to the investor coalition, or its CHRB invitations, consultations or communications and had not taken part in the 2018 benchmark engagements.
The report also said that corporate management of human rights was improving – with benchmarks, civil society and investor pressure helping to create a “race to the top”.
Steve Waygood, chair of the CHRB board and chief responsible investment officer at Aviva Investors, said: “We should all be concerned by the lack of engagement from around a quarter of companies, particularly as they are in priority sectors concerning serious human rights impacts.”
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