The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact

This Principle sets out the UN Global Compact’s overarching expectation of business on human rights, namely, to respect and support human rights. Respecting human rights means a business should use due diligence to avoid infringing human rights (“do no harm”) and should address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved. In addition, beyond respecting human rights, business is encouraged to take action to support human rights. This means seeing the opportunity to take voluntary action to make a positive contribution towards the protection and fulfillment of human rights whether through core business,strategic social investment/philanthropy, public policy engagement/advocacy, and/or partnerships and other collective action. Action to support human rights should be a complement to and not a substitute for action to respect human rights. Special attention should be paid to the rights of vulnerable groups, including women, children, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples, migrant workers, older persons etc.

Complicity means being implicated in a human rights abuse that another company, government, individual or other group is causing. The risk of complicity in a human rights abuse may be particularly high in areas with weak governance and/or where human rights abuse is widespread. However, the risk of complicity exists in every sector and every country.

The requirement to respect human rights, pursuant to Global Compact Principle 1 and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and 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. The risk of an allegation of complicity is reduced (though not eliminated) if a company has a systematic management approach to human rights, including due diligence processes that cover the entity’s business relationships. Such processes should identify and prevent or mitigate the human rights risks with which the company may be involved through links to its products, operations or services.

Freedom of association implies respect for the right of all employers and all workers to freely and voluntarily establish and join groups for the promotion and defence of their occupational interests. Both workers and employers have the right to set up, join and run their own organizations without interference from the State or any other entity. All, including employers, have the right to freedom of expression and opinion, including on the topic of unions – provided that the exercise of this right does not infringe a worker's right to freedom of association. As a voluntary initiative, the UN Global Compact does not and cannot require that employers adopt or express any particular opinion. To be able to make a free decision, workers need a climate free of violence, pressure, fear and threats.

"Association" includes activities of rule formation, administration and the election of representatives. The freedom to associate involves employers, unions and other workers representatives freely discussing issues at work in order to reach agreements that are jointly acceptable. These freedoms also allow for industrial action to be taken by workers and organizations in defence of their economic and social interests.

Collective bargaining is a voluntary process or activity through which employers and workers discuss and negotiate their relations, in particular terms and conditions of work and the regulation of relations between employers, workers and their organizations. Participants in collective bargaining include employers themselves or their organizations, and trade unions or, in their absence, representatives freely designated by the workers. An important part of the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining is the "principle of good faith". This is important for the maintenance of the harmonious development of labour relations. This principle implies that the social partners work together and make every effort to reach an agreement through genuine and constructive negotiations, and that both parties avoid unjustified delays in negotiations. The principle of good faith does not imply a pre-defined level of bargaining or require compulsory bargaining on the part of employers or workers and their organizations.

Forced or compulsory labour is any work or service that is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty, and for which that person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily. Providing wages or other compensation to a worker does not necessarily indicate that the labour is not forced or compulsory. By right, labour should be freely given and employees should be free to leave in accordance with established rules.

The term “child labour” should not be confused with “youth employment” or “student work.” Child labour is a form of exploitation that is a violation of a human right and it is recognized and defined by international instruments. It is the declared policy of the international community and of almost all Governments to abolish child labour. While the term "child" covers all girls and boys under 18 years of age, not all under-18s must be removed from work: the basic rules under international standards distinguish what constitutes acceptable or unacceptable work for children at different ages and stages of their development.

ILO conventions (Minimum Age Convention No. 138 and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182) provide the framework for national law to prescribe a minimum age for admission to employment or work that must not be less than the age for completing compulsory schooling, and in any case not less than 15 years. Lower ages are permitted for transitional periods – in countries where economic and educational facilities are less well-developed the minimum age for regular work generally is 14 years, and 12 years for “light work”. The minimum age for hazardous work is higher, at 18 years for all countries.

Discrimination in employment and occupation means treating people differently or less favourably because of characteristics that are not related to their merit or the inherent requirements of the job. In national law, these characteristics commonly include: race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction, social origin, age, disability, HIV/AIDS status, trade union membership, and sexual orientation. However, Principle 6 allows companies to consider additional grounds where discrimination in employment and occupation may occur.

Introducing the precautionary approach, Principle 15 of the 1992 Rio Declaration states that “where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation”.

Precaution involves the systematic application of risk assessment, risk management and risk communication. When there is reasonable suspicion of harm, decision-makers need to apply precaution and consider the degree of uncertainty that appears from scientific evaluation.

Deciding on the "acceptable" level of risk involves not only scientific-technological evaluation and economic cost-benefit analysis, but also political considerations such as acceptability to the public. From a public policy view, precaution is applied as long as scientific information is incomplete or inconclusive and the associated risk is still considered too high to be imposed on society. The level of risk considered typically relates to standards of environment, health and safety.

In Chapter 30 of Agenda 21, the 1992 Rio Earth Summit spelled out the role of business and industry in the sustainable development agenda as: "Business and industry should increase self-regulation, guided by appropriate codes, charters and initiatives integrated into all elements of business planning and decision-making, and fostering openness and dialogue with employees and the public."

The Rio Declaration says that business has the responsibility to ensure that activities within their own operations do not cause harm to the environment. Society expects business to be good actors in the community. Business gains its legitimacy through meeting the needs of society, and increasingly society is expressing a clear need for more environmentally sustainable practices.

Environmentally sound technologies, as defined in Agenda 21 of the Rio Declaration, should protect the environment, are less polluting, use all resources in a more sustainable manner, recycle more of their wastes and products and handle residual wastes in a more acceptable manner than the technologies for which they were substitutes. They include a variety of cleaner production processes and pollution prevention technologies as well as end-of-pipe and monitoring technologies. Moreover, they include know-how, procedures, goods and services and equipment as well as organizational and managerial procedures. Where production processes that do not use resources efficiently generate residues and discharge wastes, environmentally sound technologies can be applied to reduce day-to-day operating inefficiencies, emissions of environmental contaminants, worker exposure to hazardous materials and risks of environmental disasters.

The tenth principle against corruption was adopted in 2004 and commits UN Global Compact participants not only to avoid bribery, extortion and other forms of corruption, but also to proactively develop policies and concrete programmes to address corruption internally and within their supply chains. Companies are also challenged to work collectively and join civil society, the United Nations and governments to realize a more transparent global economy.

With the entry into force of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) in 2005, an important global tool to fight corruption was introduced. The UNCAC is the underlying legal instrument for the 10th Principle. Corruption can take many forms that vary in degree from the minor use of influence to institutionalized bribery. Transparency International's definition of corruption is "the abuse of entrusted power for private gain". This can mean not only financial gain but also non-financial advantages.

The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises define extortion in the following way: "The solicitation of bribes is the act of asking or enticing another to commit bribery. It becomes extortion when this demand is accompanied by threats that endanger the personal integrity or the life of the private actors involved."

Transparency International's Business Principles for Countering Bribery define bribery in the following way: "Bribery: An offer or receipt of any gift, loan, fee, reward or other advantage to or from any person as an inducement to do something which is dishonest, illegal or a breach of trust, in the conduct of the enterprise's business."