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Business ╳ Human Rights
Businesses are an inseparable part of what we eat, what we wear, where we live, and how we get around. Businesses also play a huge role in improving our lives and creating job opportunities. For all these reasons, businesses must include human rights principles within their activities; they can’t be concerned solely with economic and commercial goals. Businesses need to consider how their activities may affect human rights; businesses must bear a greater responsibility in society. Only then can they create greater social benefits, while also enhancing their competitiveness.
Why do businesses need to respect human rights?
News stories such as Xinjiang cotton, climate change, and ESG-based business opportunities have filled the headlines in recent years. The concept of business and human rights is here to stay. Countries around the world are using legislation and executive orders to systematize international business and human rights. Legal requirements now demand that businesses ensure no violation of human rights within their supply chains and business relationships; and if businesses violate these new rules, not only will they bear the legal liabilities, but their competitiveness may be affected as well. With this as background, the question of how businesses should protect human rights while also staying profitable has become a key part of staying on top of international supply chain business opportunities.
Taiwan is a major country for democracy and human rights in Asia, and Business + Human Rights is the inevitable path forward.
Implementing Business & Human Rights can help a business do many things:Strengthen sustainability; maintain & expand the customer base; attract & retain outstanding employees; enhance the business’s reputation and brand value; secure greater international supply chain opportunities; reduce risks arising from operational conflicts; and raise Taiwan’s overall global trade reputation.
Taiwan is a major country for democracy and human rights in Asia, and Business + Human Rights is the inevitable path forward.
Implementing Business & Human Rights can help a business do many things:Strengthen sustainability; maintain & expand the customer base; attract & retain outstanding employees; enhance the business’s reputation and brand value; secure greater international supply chain opportunities; reduce risks arising from operational conflicts; and raise Taiwan’s overall global trade reputation.
The fruits of Taiwan’s Business + Human Rights labors
At the direction of the Executive Yuan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs engaged in countless meetings with 28 government agencies and 70 NGOs and private businesses to discuss business and human rights. The result of all this work was the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, which was formally passed and promulgated by the Executive Yuan on December 10, 2020. With this, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to create such a national action plan. The Plan is reviewed every four years, so the next version is set to be submitted in 2024. At present, Taiwan’s labors in Business + Human Rights have borne the following fruits：
The state duty to protect human rights
- Established the Control Yuan National Human Rights Commission at the national level, and the Human Rights Protection and Promotion Committee at the Executive Yuan level.
- Implementing multiple UN human rights compacts.
- Continuing international dialogue on human rights, and introducing CSR requirements into trade & investment agreements.
- Enshrining human rights protections within government procurement laws, including human rights for labor, the environment, women, people with disabilities, Indigenous people, and more.
The Corporate responsibility to respect human rights
- CSR concepts have been introduced into the Company Act.
- The Statute for Industrial Innovation now rewards sustainable development.
- The Act for Development of Small and Medium Enterprises now includes tax benefits for small and medium enterprises that raise employee salary levels.
- TWSE/TPEx-listed businesses are required to submit CSR reports, in which they must disclose assessments for environmental, climate change, social, corporate governance, and other risks within the scope of their operations.
Access to remedy
- Relief mechanisms such as legal aid, class action suits, citizen suits, meditation, arbitration, and adjudication are now in place.
- Alternative dispute resolutions (ADR) are promoted, and an ADR Mechanism Search Platform has been created.
- Extraterritorial jurisdictions: Taiwan’s Criminal Code has regulations in place to deal with overseas human trafficking, drug-dealing, and piracy. The Anti-Corruption Act also has regulations in place to deal with overseas bribery of public servants and other such behaviors.
