Socially Responsible Investors Call upon HR Council to extend mandate of UN Rep

June 3rd, 2008

Seamus Finn, OMI joined other faith-based and socially responsible investors calling upon the Human Rights Council to extend the mandate of the UN Special Representative on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises (SRSG).

A letter to the Council stated: “We are committed to using our leverage as investors to encourage more responsible corporate conduct, and to promote a deeper understanding and respect for international human rights standards on the part of business. …Consistent with the SRSG’s framework, we believe that significant and urgent work must be undertaken by companies to scrutinize their own operations to minimize the possibility of complicity in human rights abuses. We also believe that greater disclosure of corporate information related to human rights policy and performance will enable investors to correlate the financial performance of companies with prudent management of human rights-related risks in general and to assess the possibility of human rights-related corporate liability in particular.” Continuance of the SRSG is important to the success of this work by socially responsible investors.

(Download PDF of letter)

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