On Wednesday November 4th, the UK Government announced that it will introduce mandatory human rights due diligence (mHRDD) legislation in the UK, alongside associated measures to tackle forced labour. The Government plans for the mHRDD regime to apply to services across the UK and to goods across Great Britain. According to the Ministerial announcement, current proposals are restricted to UK businesses with an annual global turnover of £350m as well as non-UK businesses with a UK-generated turnover of over £350 million.
The Corporate Justice Coalition (CJC) and undersigned members support this landmark step towards ending decades of corporate impunity for the exploitation of people and planet. However, we are concerned about the exclusion of the environment and the public sector from the proposed framework, whether there will be true access to justice for victims, and the high thresholds which exclude many businesses. If done well, the law can:
- Support access to justice and accountability for victims of corporate harm;
- Drive improved protections for workers, communities, Indigenous Peoples, women, and the environment both in the UK and abroad, and;
- Level the playing field for responsible businesses, contribute to greater supply chain resilience in the UK, and limit negative externalities of corporate harm currently paid for by UK communities and taxpayers.
CJC is a broad civil society coalition that has led the campaign for legislation to prevent corporate harms to people and planet for almost a decade, regularly consulting with rightsholders in the UK and abroad. In recognition of the Government’s commitment to reshape the economy around greater fairness and accountability and to abolish exploitation in the supply chains that serve the UK market, we expect that this legislation will be comprehensive and holistic, and will include the following measures.
- Accountability and justice
- The need to include the environment
- Broad scope on human rights and businesses covered
- Inclusion of public sector
- Timeline, transparency and a fully inclusive process
Read the full statement below.
Posted by: Corporate Justice Coalition | Tagged as: Analysis Analysis
