Mazars calls for human rights reporting and assurance

MAZARS HAS JOINED with Shift, a non-profit centre on business and human rights, to launch a discussion paper on the development of global standards for human rights reporting and assurance.

The standards will allow companies to show the extent to which they are aligned with UN guiding principles on human rights and demonstrate how their internal policies and processes align with the UN position.

The accompanying assurance standard will allow independent external human rights assurance providers, to confirm the company’s human rights Statement fairly represents its policies and processes.

Richard Karmel, head of Mazars UK’s social performance and human rights reporting service line said: “Several companies have made good progress in reporting how their business impacts on human rights. However, the approach to reporting has thus far been variable and fragmented.

“These standards will help companies reflect not just on how effectively they manage direct impacts on human rights, but also indirect ones in their supply chains and on other remote stakeholders. They will also give external assurance providers a more in depth framework for assessing and confirming the quality of these systems.”