The Federal Council expects all Swiss business enterprises to assume full responsibility for human rights, regardless of their size, activities or sector. As SMEs sometimes have limited human resources and expertise, managing and evaluating the risks of human rights abuses can be a major challenge and a significant burden. The federal government therefore provides specific support and information. Below we explain how businesses and specifically SMEs are affected and which human rights may be compromised by certain economic activities.
The United Nations adopted the Guiding Principles in 2011. The Guiding Principles represent an important step towards closing governance gaps. They define the international policy framework for the State duty to protect, and corporate responsibility with regard to human rights. The Guiding Principles do not impose any new obligations and are based on three pillars: the State duty to protect human rights, the corporate responsibility to protect human rights, and access to remedy.
Switzerland advocates implementation of the Guiding Principles all over the world. In Switzerland, this commitment translates into the federal government’s National Action Plan on implementation of the Guiding Principles.
On 15 January 2020, the Federal Council adopted the National Action Plan (NAP) on Business and Human Rights for the period 2020–2023. The NAP aims to strengthen the protection of human rights in relation to economic activities undertaken by the federal government and companies based or operating in Switzerland. It sets out 35 measures based on the following three priority actions:
communicating what the federal government expects from the corporate sector;
supporting business enterprises, particularly SMEs;
Like the UN Guiding Principles, the NAP does not impose any new legal obligations. Under the UN Guiding Principles, respecting human rights is a general standard of conduct that all business enterprises are expected to meet. The NAP supports business enterprises in meeting this standard of conduct.
Swiss business enterprises operating abroad may face a variety of contexts, in countries where the rule of law is weak, and in conflict or post-conflict zones. In addition, national legislation is not always compliant with international human rights standards. Businesses are therefore responsible for going beyond national legislation and referring to international standards (Guiding Principles, OECD, ILO standards etc.). Due diligence is particularly important in conflict-affected and high-risk areas. The federal government expects companies to take account of local circumstances by adopting a conflict-sensitive approach based on human rights and observing the ‘do no harm’ principle (consideration of problems intrinsic to fragile contexts).
The responsibility of business enterprises to respect human rights refers to internationally recognised human rights such as those expressed in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the human rights principles contained in the eight core ILO conventions. In addition to these instruments, the regional mechanisms instituted by the Council of Europe, and specifically the European Convention on Human Rights and its additional protocols, are also important for Switzerland. Depending on the circumstances, business enterprises must also observe additional standards concerning particularly vulnerable population groups, including agreements protecting indigenous people, women, minorities, children and people with disabilities.
Yes, respecting human rights should not necessarily be equated with a high degree of bureaucracy and human rights due diligence can be incorporated into existing processes. For instance, if you carry out a risk analysis, you can expend it and include a human rights impact assessment. Product safety standards or management systems already in place can also help you identify and prevent human rights impacts. You can also refer to certain management system certifications or guidance (such as ISO 26000 that provides guidance on how business can operate in a socially responsible way). Human rights due diligence does not need to be perfect from the start. Embedding respect for human rights is a long term and ongoing process.
Human rights that are likely to be at risk in the context of your economic activity depend on your sector of activity, the geographical location of your business activity, the raw materials you use and your products, services and business partners.
Here are examples of human rights that can be affected by your economic activities:
Prohibition of human trafficking and forced labour The head of procurement of a Swiss company visits his main suppliers in Eastern Asia. During his visit to the premises of one of his supplier, he discovers that the workers live in accommodation on the site itself, that the employer seized their identity documents and that they have to give up a large part of their salary to cover housing costs and reimburse recruitment costs. When they tried to protest against these conditions, their employer reportedly threatened to beat them. The head of procurement decides to inform his superiors of these signs of forced labour in order to take the necessary measures, for instance by initiating a discussion with the supplier or undertaking an audit.
Right to life, liberty and security An employee of a Swiss company travels to Central Africa for a dam project to assemble the parts of a turbine. He notes that the company building the dam (the purchasing company) employs armed private security guards on a daily basis to protect the site. One day, he witnesses a conflict between residents and security agents during a demonstration against the dam project. During the clash, demonstrators are injured by security guards. The employee immediately reports the incident to the purchasing company, who will then encourage his security service provider to adhere to the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Companies (ICoC). In the event of repeated incidents and without having succeeded in changing its partner's practices, the Swiss company will consider terminating the commercial relationship.
You will find below other human rights examples (non-exhaustive list):
A company can cause detrimental effects on human rights through its own activities. For instance, a company can violate human rights by contaminating a community’s drinking-water with chemical waste from the manufacturing processes.
A company can contribute to detrimental effects on human rights along with other actors. For example, a company may be contributing to human rights violations when its contractual requirements induce suppliers to force their workers into unpaid overtime to meet deadlines, which violates work safety standards.
Although a company has not itself contributed to detrimental effects on human rights, it can nevertheless be associated with such effects due to a business relationship with suppliers, customers or business partners.
Businesses must prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts in these three situations.
Under the UN Guiding Principles, victims of human rights abuses should have access to remedy. This may take the form of cessation or prevention of future harmful activity, apologies or compensation. Swiss business enterprises – and in particular those that are highly exposed to human rights risks – can envisage various complaint procedures, e.g. a company complaints procedure for employees and external stakeholder groups that is shared with other companies or organised at sector level. A complaints procedure is a channel through which individuals who feel they have been victim of a human rights abuse can submit a complaint. This channel can take the form of a hotline or an email address, for example. Companies can also work with the National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (www.seco.admin.ch/ncp), which serves as a platform for dialogue and a non-judicial mediation body.
In light of their limited expertise and personnel resources, SMEs often face particular challenges in handling potential human rights risks. There are various options for addressing these challenges:
Speak regularly with all stakeholders, such as your employees, your clients, your suppliers or local communities, to be able to proactively identify and mitigate any negative human rights impact;
Contact your business association and seek advice from human rights experts (NGOs, trade unions, human rights consultants, etc). You can also participate in existing initiatives and programs in the area of human rights that offer companies specific support. See our section “Multistakeholder Initiatives (PDF, 14 MB, 07.05.2019)”;
Cooperate with the contracting party. If it is a larger company that has strict human rights requirements, you can ask to have some support.
Read more in our brochure for small and medium-sized enterprises (see link at the end). It presents the national and international guidelines and provides an overview of the steps needed to put in place a human rights due diligence process.
Yes, any business can negatively affect human rights and is concerned by this topic. In practice, for Swiss based activities, if you comply with the law (work security, health protection, prohibition of discrimination, etc) you will have come a long way towards ensuring that you do not negatively impact human rights. However, you can be involved in human rights violation through your clients our suppliers. For instance, if forced or child labour has been used along the supply chain to produce part of the end product, your company should use its leverage to prevent or mitigate any negative impact committed by its business partners. A proper human rights due diligence, should enable you to identify potential human rights risks and help you to take the right decisions.
The following aspects are particularly important in human rights due diligence processes:
risk prioritisation: start by addressing the most severe impacts (scope, significance and irremediable nature) and those that are the most likely to occur.
scope: examine business operations within the scope of direct and indirect supply chains and other business relationships.
continuous management: identify risks and improve risk management on an ongoing basis, taking into account the situation of suppliers, business partners, supply countries and business sectors. The development of new products or business relationships may result in new risks.
a different perspective: evaluate risks from the perspective of rights holders and potential stakeholders, instead of focussing solely on the risks for the company.
