RIGHTS HERE RIGHTS NOW
SPECIAL FEATURE ON SUSTAINABILITY
What people get wrong about Human Rights
Words: Tamie Huitchins / Claire Lynch / Joe Yalley-Ogunro
The subject of human rights has never been more important in the beverage industry, and the world at large. But the concept of human rights is often misunderstood as being something that happens “elsewhere” rather than something universal. Tamie Hutchins, Group HR Director, Joe-Yalley-Ogunro and Group Head of Sustainability speak to business & human rights expert Claire Lynch about human rights in beverages, why engagement is key and what Finlays is doing in this area.
Claire Lynch. Human Rights are simply the freedoms and protections that all humans should be afforded. They exist to protect and ensure our dignity and equality in life for all of us, regardless of who or where we are. Our “labor rights” are those rights that protect us from exploitation in our working lives.
Joe Yalley-Ogunro. For me, respecting human rights at Finlays is about being proactive to ensure everybody understands their freedoms and rights. And that we systemize our obligations and responsibilities, so that everyone associated with our business knows what they can do if something goes wrong, and the opportunities afforded when things go well.
Tamie Hutchins. Human Rights and Human Resources (HR) are indivisible. We work to meet our obligations and – where violations do occur – we deal with them correctly and learn from them to prevent reoccurrence.
TH. The beverage industry is labor intensive - every day we are relying on Finlays employees and many others to harvest, process and bring our products to market.
Our supply chains stretch right across the world, meaning many of those people are working in environments where human rights risks are high.
In 2023, Finlays experienced this first hand on our former tea estates in Kenya with allegations of human rights abuses taking place. While we had systems in place to guard against these from occurring, what became clear was that to be effective, they needed to be more visible, better understood, applied equally and trusted by all.
JY-O. We’ve made good progress since then, but there is lots more to do in terms of advancing our approach to human rights due diligence – not just at the production and manufacturing stage which are particularly vulnerable – but across our whole business.
CL. The biggest misconception I come across among clients is that human rights are something that apply to “other people” – not to us, and not to our business. Somehow, this creates the incorrect idea that businesses do not have a role to play in respecting everyone’s human rights. I think this happens because when we see human rights talked about in the media, it is almost always in relation to very extreme cases of human rights violations such as wars and abuse, and often these are in communities that don’t look like ours. If we’re lucky enough not to experience those things ourselves, it can be difficult to relate.
In fact, human rights affect every aspect of all our lives, every day.
For example, the reason we have a weekend and we’re not expected to work seven days per week is because our right to rest is built into labor rights. On the other hand, human rights violations are occurring all the time. Although there are laws on equality and non-discrimination, what happened to George Floyd can – and does – still happen in the US. And these violations can affect anyone - in the UK, more than 17,000 cases of potential modern slavery were reported last year – the most common nationality of the victims was British (UK), contrary to common belief that it is an issue that affects immigrants only. We all have a role to play – governments, individuals and businesses - in respecting the human rights that benefit each of us.
TH. ‘Otherness’ occurs when we think we are different from the people we see being affected and when we see the very worst offences as a narrow-but-complete definition of human rights. It’s about visible representation – we find it easier to understand and engage if we see someone like us being affected.
JY-O. Depending on where in the world we live, it’s easy to be complacent about human rights until something goes wrong. If it’s not happening right in front of us, we don't notice it. Traditionally, we are used to focusing on the risks to our business and we perhaps assume that addressing risks to people is intrinsically ingrained. It is something we must be alert to everywhere we operate – in lower risk areas, as well as high.
CL. Human rights can feel like a dry topic – unless you're a human rights law nerd like me! We need to bring it to life, help people understand that it affects us all, in all aspects of life, every day of the week by telling stories of the experiences of your own colleagues, friends and peers.
It is worth reflecting on how the world looks unrecognizably different now than it did in 1948 when the UN first published its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, particularly the globalization of how we live and work and our supply chains. To help us navigate this new world, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) were published in 2011 to provide businesses with a guide to their role in protecting and respecting human rights.
Continuing to learn, engage and build the Human Rights Due Diligence systems suggested in the UNGPs, in the way I have seen Finlays do since I became engaged with the team here, is helping to move mindsets away from thinking about human rights as a project or initiative, towards it becoming your business as usual – reflecting its rightful place in our everyday lives.
TH. We must focus on being proactive and seeking out areas that need improvement across our business. It is not enough to wait until people raise an issue. We can start to do this by sharing examples of where human rights have affected – and are affecting – all of our people. Things like gender pay equality, and diversity and inclusion are great examples of human rights that affect everyone.
JY-O. We need to create opportunities to raise people’s awareness of human rights wherever and whoever they are. How these rights relate to them as individuals, and that we all have the right to be protected from abuse of these rights, and a duty to help protect others. It’s vital we recognize the diversity of our business and involve all levels and types of people, both in the conversation about human rights, and in the development of policy and process.
Claire Lynch
Director-Principal Consultant, CLC Ltd Claire@clairelynchconsulting.com
Tamie Hutchins
Group HR Director Tamie.Hutchins@Finlays.net
Joe Yalley-Ogunro
Group Head of Sustainability Joe.yalley-ogunro@Finlays.net
Joe Yalley-Ogunro, Group Head of Sustainability
Finlays is addressing Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) by focusing on core human rights actions and aligning with best practice. The plans we are putting in place include:
Conducting a Human Rights Risk Assessment to develop a Salient Risks Action Plan by the end of 2024
Developing and implementing an improved Human Rights Policy
Joining the UN Global Compact
Collaborating with experts to enhance our working practices
Re-defining our approach to being a diverse and inclusive business
Implementing action plans for Women in Management and Living Wage
