60 years with eternally relevant rights
On December 10, 1948, the UN General Assembly passed “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, which, with its 30 rights, is now the foundation for all human rights legislation. Featuring core values such as equality, justice and anti-discrimination, the declaration covers everyone – anywhere and anytime.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights obligates governments to react and act in a particular way and to abstain from other actions. The Declaration is legally binding, but the moral responsibility is widespread and has grown over the past 60 years.
On December 10, 1948, the UN passed and published its Universal Declaration on Human Rights in the light of the many civilian atrocities committed during the Second World War. The Declaration was passed unanimously by 48 countries and no countries voted against it. Eight countries abstained.
The human rights stated are 30 inalienable civil, political, financial, social and cultural rights held by all individuals.
See the 30 rights at: http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm.
The initiative in the hands of the business community
The Declaration was compiled for governments, and although it does not define specific responsibility for companies, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and involvement have increased worldwide over the past 10-15 years. As a result of the surge in global democratization, companies are becoming more involved in processes that previously covered only states or governments.
Morten Kjærum, the Director of the Danish Institute for Human Rights, highlights that companies help translate the conventions into reality – both in a local and international context.
“We are in an early phase, but even so, we've achieved a lot in the past 15-20 years. Awareness that companies play a role in developing international society has grown, and the Global Compact has played a very central role in this,” he says.
The UN Global Compact is an international initiative devised by the UN to involve private companies in solving some of the social and environmental challenges caused by globalization. The Global Compact has two main objectives:
- Companies are encouraged to support the ten principles within the areas of human rights, employment rights, the environment and corruption, and to implement them in their in-house practices.
- Companies are encouraged to establish voluntary initiatives to promote UN goals for sustainable development.
Read more at www.unglobalcompact.org.
The Global Compact
In the summer of 2000, the UN established a Global Compact, which can be interpreted as “corporate responsibility for human rights”. The Global Compact is based on ten principles and, in addition to human and employment rights, it deals with the environment and anti-corruption. The member companies are to publicly work towards goals to promote the principles and report annually on the company’s progress regarding the principles.
Novozymes’ human rights initiatives are built on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Global Compact principles. These are integrated into our values, The Novozymes Touch and a number of policies and management standards, including a set of minimum standards for human and employment rights for all employees. Our seven largest sites also draft annual strategies for social responsibility, and every year we report on Global Compact developments and new initiatives.
Novozymes adopted the UN Global Compact in 2001, and we are obliged to document our CSR efforts by setting goals and integrating human rights considerations in our work. Every year, Novozymes’ annual report describes its progress on implementing the ten Global Compact principles.
Read more in The Novozymes Report 2007 at:
http://report2007.novozymes.com/Menu/Novozymes+report+2007/Supplementary+reporting/Global+Compact
Practical experience and proximity
Former CEO for Novo Nordisk, Mads Øvlisen, represents the business community on the board of the UN Global Compact. He emphasizes that being a company and not a national government is an advantage.
“As companies, we don’t need a national democratic majority before we act. Our decision-making processes differ from political mechanisms, which involve lengthy lobbying. That means companies’ experience in finding specific and practical solutions is an important contribution towards improving conditions for people all over the world,” he explains.
According to Mads Øvlisen and Morten Kjærum, the companies’ physical global presence is a second important reason why the business community can help give people worldwide a more worthy existence.
“Even the most remote areas of the world have companies. And they play a role in people’s everyday life and so also help provide access to things like healthcare and education,” says Morten Kjærum.
This supports Novozymes’ approach very well. We believe that companies have a responsibility – within the bounds set by politicians.
Thomas Nagy, Executive Vice President for Stakeholder Relations at Novozymes, explains, “Our position is that politicians must define the direction and make the decisions that demand a democratic majority. But within these bounds, as a company we can help solve the problems we meet globally and locally.”
