Members Discussed Challenges on Human Rights Due Diligence in the Supply Chain

Last week, a few member companies met and decided to form a Human Rights Focus Group that will meet monthly to discuss experiences, challenges and possible solutions as we have seen increasing emphasis and scrutiny from policy makers, customers and ESG investors on this front.  

With the growing number of national Human Rights laws in the global supply chain, future expectations appear to be shifting from corporate responsibility to compliance. Also, with global implications of the new German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act taking effect January 1, 2023, as well as similar draft EU legislation with potentially even broader scope forthcoming, many employers are being faced with supply chain due diligence expectations which may stretch beyond their capabilities. Further, companies might also be implementing measures in anticipation of these requirements that are unclear.  

In this context, we formed this group inspired by a similar initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding vaccine mandates for government contractors and served as a constructive platform for member companies to discuss common challenges and potential solutions. Besides continuous conversations among members, we will also invite various experts to answer questions and share insight. The next meeting is on February 9 and if you are interested in joining this Focus Group, please contact Wen Dong at wdong@hrpolicy.org so you can be included in future meeting invites.