Communicating and reporting on BHR
Karin Buhmann · Human Rights · 2021
This chapter explores processes of communicating human rights to make the respect of human rights and their integration into operational practices meaningful from a business perspective from three perspectives: between organizations, within organizations, and as non-financial reporting. Providing a theory framing and examples from the evolution of the business and human rights regime and corporate communication, it explains how strategic communication targets the core interests of the company in order to motivate change, and how it underscores the benefits to the company of the desired changes through arguments recognizing the core interest and explaining why and how preserving that interest involves change. Drawing on this, the chapter explains how business managers can benefit from understanding mandatory non-financial reporting from the public policy perspective as an approach to support normative change with business enterprises, rather than an administrative requirement that is unrelated to, and takes time and other resources away from, the core business.