SEEKING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE BY DOING RIGHT 

As part of its commitment to advance the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP), FIHRRST, with generous support from the Open Society Foundation, has begun an initiative to assess the understanding that Indonesian companies have of their responsibility to respect human rights as set out in the UNGP.  The initiative is being implemented through a study targeting the 100 companies listed on Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) that were included in the KOMPAS 100 index as published by the IDX on 30 January 2018.

The study, which will be conducted from July 2018 to June 2019, will assess the implementation of respect for human rights by those 100 companies for the period from February to July 2018, examining whether respect for human rights is embedded in the policies, practices and management system of the respective companies. The study assesses and ranks the 100 companies based on their compliance with criteria for respecting human rights in company operations developed through engagement with relevant stakeholders that include the representatives of the 100 companies. The study will consist of a series of activities that include desktop review, focus group discussions (FGDs) and stakeholder engagement, interviews, data analysis and dissemination of study results. 

The results of the study are expected to encourage the 100 companies to continuously improve the implementation of respect for human rights in their business operations, particularly to implement respect for human rights of their workers, the workers of their business partners, customers and other stakeholders and carry out remediation on human rights violations that may have occurred as a result of their operations. In addition, it also aims to encourage the other 497 companies listed on IDX to implement respect for human rights in their operations in order to gain a competitive advantage over competitors on global markets.

Having the vision of advancing the implementation of UNGP, during this study FIHRRST will engage the Financial Services Authority (OJK), Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, and Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. The involvement of these government institutions is expected to encourage the government to demonstrate its commitment to fulfil its obligation to protect human rights, which is the first pillar of the UNGP. 

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN Indonesia) and the National Human Rights Commission of the republic of Indonesia (Komnas HAM) will also be involved in the study.

AWARDS

The study is intended to create competition between companies, whereby those that take action to show they respect human rights gain recognition, while those that fail to respect their obligations can be held to account. Thus, at the presentation of the study results, the relevant government institutions and FIHRRST will present awards to the companies with the best human rights practices.

PROCESS OF THE STUDY ON RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN 100 INDONESIAN PUBLIC COMPANIES