Respecting human rights isn’t just ethical, it’s good for business.
Based on principles like dignity, fairness, respect and equality, human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to everyone, regardless of who you are, where you live and how you choose to live your life.
Human rights issues, often referred to in the built environment as workers’ rights or labor rights, are becoming an increasingly important consideration for all organisations and their supply chains. This is being driven by investors, due diligence legislation worldwide, stakeholders, clients and increased evidence highlighting the business benefits of being a responsible employer.
The built environment is known for its increasingly complex supply chains, the widespread use of sub-contractors, precarious contracts and part-reliance on unskilled, migrant or temporary workers, both in the US and overseas. These conditions increase the risk of human rights violations such as forced labor, which remains a concern even in developed nations.
Through our procurement practices we can either contribute to or perpetuate these issues that exist in the countries from which we buy, and in our supply chains.
Developed by the Supply Chain Sustainability School and delivered through Action Sustainability, this guide explores commonly used terms in discussions about social value and illustrates their connection to evolving concepts. While this guide doesn’t encompass an exhaustive list of terms, it aims to define and differentiate the key terms frequently encountered in social value discussions.
The guide contains the following:
- A list of key terms and their connection with social value;
- An illustration which attempts to categorise key terms associated with social value according to international bodies, the EU, the UK, and other local entities;
- A collection of responses from social value webinars and workshops that demonstrate changing social value trends and;
- A list of resources related to each term to provide additional information.
Human Rights in 2 Minutes
Watch this video to learn the basics of human rights and human rights law.
Modern Slavery
An introduction to Human Rights and Modern Slavery e-learning module
E-learning module
30 minutesModern Slavery
An Introduction to Human Rights and Modern Slavery
Web link
VOICES database
Web link
Modern Slavery Bill 2018
Document / Presentation
The built environment presents a myriad of wellbeing challenges that…
