A practical handbook on business and human rights

Companies -until now mostly big companies, but increasingly also small and medium-sized ones- today face the challenge of trying to manage their impact in the area of human rights as part of their social responsibility policy (CSR). However, for the private sector this is a relatively new issue, and there is often a lack of minimum guidelines or information regarding the topic, and also a lack of adequate resources to tackle it with certainty and effectiveness in a highly competitive market where this issue is becoming increasingly relevant. This guide aims to fill that vacuum, while at the same time revealing the enormous potential that the private sector has for promoting human rights and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on a local and international scale. This manual aims to provide, in a didactic and summarised way, information and reflections on present-day issues related to human rights that may prove useful for companies, thereby helping them to manage these issues in the framework of their CSR policy.