Geneva and Bangkok, 14 June 2021: The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has today released a Thai edition of its CEO Guide to Human Rights, produced by Thai conglomerate C.P. Group, a member company of WBCSD.
CEO leadership plays a crucial role in ensuring that corporate respect for human rights is taken seriously across companies and business relationships. The guide provides insight into how companies are meeting their responsibility to respect human rights, and shares actions business leaders are taking to get ahead, and stay ahead, in this crucial space. It sends a clear message on the need to elevate the ambition concerning human rights, the relevance of adopting standards which foster the respect for those rights and the importance to establish clear expectations for suppliers and partners, boosting the relationship and the collaboration between peers, governments and civil society.
The guide highlights four drivers for action beyond compliance that make a compelling business case for any corporate leader: regulation, public interest, business relationships, and investor expectations. Furthermore, it suggests four specific actions that top executives can take to advance respect for human rights: Know the most important human rights for your company; Lead from the top; Engage transparently with stakeholders; and Collaborate beyond your comfort zone.
The CEO Guide embeds a foreword with a Call to Action endorsed by 56 forward-thinking top executives of WBCSD member companies. They urge their peers across the business community to raise the bar on human rights performance, embed human rights in corporate culture, set clear expectations of suppliers and business partners and drive meaningful engagement and collaborations with peers, governments as well as civil society. The signatories of the Call to Action represent companies headquartered in 23 countries, with over 4.3 million direct employees, and extensive value chains across the world.
C.P. Group’s Chief Executive Officer Suphachai Chearavanont said “C.P. Group is strongly committed to promoting understanding and implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) everywhere we operate, including Thailand.” He added, “WBCSD’s CEO Guide to Human Rights is a useful tool to help business leaders understand human rights issues that are relevant to their operations, and develop strategies to manage them. We hope the launch of the Thai version will get the conversation on business and human rights started among our colleagues, partners, and everyone in the Thai business community.”
For his part, Filippo Veglio, Managing Director at WBCSD, emphasized: “Realizing universal human rights for all is one of the most powerful opportunities businesses have to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. The Guide provides business leaders in Thailand with a blueprint for action to drive positive changes in people‘s lives across their companies and business relationships.”
The Thai edition is the latest in a series of translations of the guide that aim to promote corporate respect for human rights by making the topic accessible to business leaders across the world. The CEO Guide is available in ten languages, with a number of the translations featuring a local Call to Action endorsed by a total of 130 top executives across the world, showcasing the importance of leadership at both global and national levels.
More information
- The CEO Guide to Human Rights can be downloaded here in English, Thai, French, Spanish and other languages.
- Business and human rights: WBCSD determined to continue raising the bar
James Gomme – Director, People & Society, WBCSD
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