Third UN Global Compact Roundtable

Dr. El Sayed TorkyAdvisor to the minster of investment for CSR

Managing Director ECRC

About ECRC

• ECRC is established as a national GC and CSR center between the Ministry of Investment and UNDP in 2008 under the umbrella of EIoD.

• ECRC acts as the focal point for the United Nations Global Compact in Egypt in partnership with Mansour Group.

• ECRC acts as Chair and Secretariat of MENA-OECD Responsible Business Conduct Forum.

ECRC VisionTo enhance corporate social responsibility practices in order to make a sustainable impact on businesses, communities and the wider environment, and to boost business commitment to the United Nations Global Compact ten universally accepted principles

ECRC Objectives

• Support the effective and professional increase of corporate involvement in socially responsible business activities.

• Promote awareness for effective corporate social responsibility strategies within business units.

• Develop CSR codes and manuals that facilitate the efficient execution of CSR strategies within business practices.

• Build the capacities of companies and NGOs by delivering internationally accredited training programs,.

• Assist the companies to comply with labor and environmental standards by enhancing transparency and accountability.

• Create successful CSR business modules and best practices, offering support to various business sectors.

• Encourage, sustain and empower the Global Compact Local Network of businesses within Egypt.

Achievements and Action Plan

Creating new partnerships with :1) German Arab Chamber of Commerce2) Egyptian Junior Businessmen Association3) Cairo Chamber of Commerce4) British Egyptian Businessmen Association5) MENA Investment Center of Bahrain6) Family Development Foundation of UAE

• Preparing a CSR code

• Preparing CSR National Strategy

• Organizing training workshops in Egypt and in the MENA region

• Preparing a GC case study

• prepare CSR successful stories

Overview of the UN Global Compact

• Launched by Kofi Annan in 1999, the UN Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of Human rights, Labor, Environment and Anticorruption.

• Business, as a primary agent driving globalization, can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere.

• Over 7700 business participants and other stakeholders from more than 130 countries,

Benefits of Participation

• Adopting an established and globally recognized policy framework for the development, implementation, and disclosure of environmental, social, and governance policies and practices.

• A platform to share and exchange best and emerging practices to advance practical solutions and strategies to common challenges.

• The opportunity to advance sustainability solutions in partnership with a range of stakeholders,

• The opportunity to link business units and subsidiaries across the value chain with the UN Global Compact's Country Networks around the world .

• Access to the United Nations' extensive knowledge of and experience with sustainability and development issues.

• Utilizing UN Global Compact management tools and resources, and the opportunity to engage in specialized work streams in the environmental, social and governance realms

Communicating Progress • One of the explicit commitments that a company

makes when it joins the UN Global Compact is to produce an annual Communication on Progress (COP). This is a requirement of participation which serves several important purposes:

1. to encourage accountability;2. to drive continuous improvement;3. to contribute to the development of a repository of

corporate practices.

• A COP is a disclosure to stakeholders (e.g., investors, consumers, civil society, governments, etc.) on progress made in implementing the ten principles of the UN Global Compact, and in supporting broad UN development goals.

• Business participants are required to annually submit a COP on the UN Global Compact website and to share the COP widely with their stakeholders.

• While the format for a COP is flexible, it must contain three important elements:

1. A statement by the CEO (or equivalent) expressing continued support for the Global Compact and renewing the participant's ongoing commitment to the initiative and its principles;

2. A description of practical actions (i.e., activities and, if applicable, policies) the company has taken to implement the Global Compact principles and to support broader development goals. During the first five years of participation, a COP must address at least two of the Global Compact's principle issue areas, while all four must be addressed after five years;

3. A measurement of outcomes (i.e., identify targets, define performance indicators, or measure outcomes).

• In addition, new business participants (joined on or after 1 July 2009) are given one year from the date of joining to prepare and submit their first COP.

• Non-business participants are not required to prepare and submit a COP on the UN Global Compact website.

Local Networks

• Local networks are clusters of participants who come together to advance the Global Compact and its principles within a particular geographic context.

• They perform increasingly important roles in rooting the Global Compact within different national, cultural and language contexts, and also in helping to manage the organizational consequences of the Compact’s rapid expansion.

• Their role is to facilitate the progress of companies (both local firms and subsidiaries of foreign corporations) engaged in the Compact with respect to implementation of the ten principles, while also creating opportunities for multi-stakeholder engagement and collective action.

• Furthermore, networks deepen the learning experience of all participants through their own activities and events and promote action in support of broader UN goals.

• Local network representatives come together for an annual meeting coordinated and chaired by the Global Compact Office, which is known as the Annual Local Networks Forum.

• The purpose of the Local Networks Forum is for Local Networks to learn from each other’s experiences in building a network, review and compare progress, identify best practices and adopt recommendations intended to enhance the effectiveness of Local Networks, including relating to governance.

Current Members (39)• Business (24)

– Aero Services Egypt (ASE)– Alfa Misr for Industrial Investment– Allied Soft– Arab African Int’l Bank– B.Tech- Olympic Stores for Trade and Distribution– Cairo for Investment & Dev.– CompuMe– Consukorra– EgyTrans– Egyptian Traders Co.– Environmental Quality Int’l– Etisalat Misr– Hashem Brothers– Kasr El Salam Co.– Mansour Group– Misr Contracting Co.– Namaa Real Estate– Orascom Telecom– Oriental Resorts for Touristic Development– Raya Holding– Sekem Group– Talal Abu Ghazaleh– TMA– Vacsera

• Government (1)– The Cabinet for Information & Decision Support

Center• NGO’s/Organizations (4)

– Federation of Egyptian Industries– Saveco Science & Environment Consultant– UN Youth Club– Welad Misr Association

• Business Associations (8)– American Chamber of Commerce– Business Women Association for Development– Cairo Chamber of Commerce– Egyptian Pharmacists Syndicate– Federation of Egyptian Industries– German Arab Chamber of Industry and

Commerce– Egyptian Junior Business Association– Industrial Modernization Center (IMC)

• Academic Institutions (2)– Cairo University– New Generation International Schools

UN Global Compact's Ten Principles

Human Rights• Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the

protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and• Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human

rights abuses. Labor Standards• Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of

association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;

• Principle 4: The elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor;

• Principle 5: The effective abolition of child labor; and

• Principle 6: The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Environment• Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary

approach to environmental challenges;• Principle 8: Undertake initiatives to promote greater

environmental responsibility; and• Principle 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of

environmentally friendly technologies. Anti-Corruption• Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption

in all its forms, including extortion and bribery

Human Rights

• Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights;

• Principle 2: Business should make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

The first two principles of the UN Global Compact are derived from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Why Human Rights Are Important for Business• Governments have the primary responsibility for

human rights. However, individuals and organizations also have important roles to play in supporting and respecting human rights.

• The business community has a responsibility to respect human rights, that is, not to violate human rights.

• Operating context, company activities and relationships can pose risks that the company might negatively impact human rights, but they also present opportunities to support or promote the enjoyment of human rights while also advancing one‘s business.

Addressing consumer concerns• Access to global information means that

consumers are increasingly aware of where their goods come from and the conditions under which they are made.

• A proactive approach to human rights can avoid problems and thus reduce the potentially negative impacts of adverse publicity from consumer organizations and interest groups.

Supply chain management• Global sourcing and manufacturing means that

companies need to be fully aware of potential human rights issues both upstream and downstream.

Increasing worker productivity and retention• Workers who are treated with dignity and given fair

and just remuneration for their work are more likely to be productive and remain loyal to an employer.

• New recruits increasingly consider the social and environmental record of companies when making their choice of employer.

Respecting Human Rights• Business must ensure that its operations are

consistent with the legal principles applicable in the country of operation. If national law falls short of international standards, companies should strive to meet international standards and not violate human rights.

• In the rare situation that national law directly conflicts with international standards, companies are not expected to violate national laws. Instead, there may be other ways to support the spirit of international human rights standards.

• Importantly, the corporate responsibility to respect exists independently of States’ human rights duties. Among other things, this means that businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights whether they are operating in an area of weak governance or in a more stable context. In areas where there is weak governance, the risks of infringing human rights may be greater because of the context.

• It is also important to note that because the responsibility to respect is a baseline expectation, a company cannot compensate for infringing human rights in one aspect of their business by performing good deeds elsewhere, such as through philanthropic acts, supporting human rights in other areas or by good performance on other issues, such as the environment.

Examples of how companies can support and respect human rights through their daily activities

• In the workplace: by providing safe and healthy working

conditions, by guaranteeing freedom of association, by ensuring non-discrimination in personnel

practices, by ensuring that they do not use directly or

indirectly forced labor or child labor, and

PRINCIPLE TWO

Businesses should make sure they are not complicit in human rights abuses

Complicity

• Complicity in human rights abuses occurs where a corporation provides practical assistance, encouragement or moral support that has a substantial effect on the perpetration of the abuse.

• Respecting human rights includes avoiding complicity, which is another way, beyond their own direct business activities, that businesses risk interfering with the enjoyment of human rights.

.

Complicity is generally made up of 2 elements: An act or omission (failure to act) by a

company, or individual representing a company, that “helps” (facilitates, legitimizes, assists, encourages, etc.) another, in some way, to carry out a human rights abuse

The knowledge by the company that its act or omission could provide such help

Accusations of complicity can arise in a number ofcontexts:• Direct complicity — when a company provides goods

or services that it knows will be used to carry out the abuse.

• Beneficial complicity — when a company benefits from human rights abuses even if it did not positively assist or cause them.

• Silent complicity — when the company is silent or inactive in the face of systematic or continuous human rights abuse. (This is the most controversial type of complicity.)

Possible Actions by Business

• An effective human rights policy will help companies avoid being implicated in human rights violations.

• In order to avoid such situations, companies may wish to consider the following:

Has the company made a human rights assessment of the situation in countries where it does, or intends to do, business so as to identify the risk of involvement in human rights abuses and the company's potential impact on the situation?

Does the company have explicit policies that protect the human rights of workers in its direct employment and throughout its supply chain?

Has the company established a monitoring system to ensure that its human rights policies are being implemented?

Does the company have an explicit policy to ensure that its security arrangements do not contribute to human rights violations? This applies whether it provides its own security, contracts it to others or in the case where security is supplied by the State.

Does the company actively engage in open dialogue with human-rights organizations?

Women’s Empowerment Principles: Equality Means BusinessA joint initiative of the UNIFEM and UN Global Compact

Women’s Empowerment Principles1. Establish high level corporate leadership for ‐

gender equality.2. Treat all women and men fairly at work –

respect and support human rights and nondiscrimination.

3. Ensure the health, safety and well being of ‐all women and men workers.

4. Promote education, training and professional development for women.

5. Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women.

6. Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy.

7. Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality.