How should human rights concerns be dealt with? 

Although each of the three different human rights concerns must be dealt with on an individual basis, it is crucial that companies also have overarching policies and procedures that make their approach to human rights efficient, consistent and clear to both internal players and external stakeholders. Here are some points about handling human rights:

• Decide what level of engagement will be given to addressing human rights. On the one hand, compliance with all applicable legislation is the minimum level of commitment required. Human trafficking and conflict enabling can both be looked at in terms of compliance with legislation: for affected companies, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act and the SEC's "conflict mineral rule" make the minimum requirements clear in these areas. With child labor, guiding principles from the UN can be used as beneficial guidelines. Alternatively, a company may choose to go beyond minimum acceptable standards and invest in and engage with business partners and players where human rights challenges exist.

• Corporate power can be used to make positive changes in regions with serious social problems. Trailblazing action of this nature is often rewarded with improved international image and media exposure. It can also create opportunities in different regions that competitors may be avoiding. For example, for more than a decade IKEA has worked with UNICEF in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh to help eliminate the root causes of child labor in the region. Rather than pulling out of the area when the extent of the child labor problem became apparent, IKEA turned it into opportunity. As well as the benefits for the people of Uttar Pradesh, a proactive approach allowed IKEA to achieve their business objectives in the area while strengthening their global reputation. For more information on IKEA's strategy, see http://goo.gl/GyVFN7.

• Identify the human rights concerns that are material to your company. All three of the main issues listed here may not be applicable to each enterprise. However, it is uncommon for a transnational supply chain to be completely free of human rights concerns. Rather than attempting to confront every sustainability issue, businesses must focus on issues of the greatest relevance to their operations by carrying out materiality assessments. This assessment enables a business to identify, address and report on the topics that affect its ability to create economic, social, or environmental value for itself and for society as a whole.

November 29, London, UK - 2degrees Live: Energy Performance in Property has been designed to help landlords, tenants, and owner/occupiers in both the public and private sector improve the energy performance of their property portfolios. For more information visit http://goo.gl/55gnfX.

December 2 - 3, Columbus, Ohio - WBCSD's Midwest Conference 2013 brings together business leaders to explore how to scale up and accelerate business solutions in the U.S. and abroad. For more information visit http://www.wbcsd.org/home.aspx. 

December 3 - 4, Orlando, FL - The Facilities Management Summit is an event for the Commercial Facilities Management and Construction Industries. It is complimentary for Facilities Professionals who have upcoming projects and want to learn about the newest technologies and solutions in energy efficiency, building sustainability etc. by meeting with pre-qualified vendors of their choice and attending educational workshops. For more information visit http://goo.gl/ULWrLj.

February 18 - 20, 2014, Phoenix, Arizona - GreenBiz Forum Phoenix 2014 will define the trends, challenges and opportunities in sustainable business today. For more information or to register, visit http://goo.gl/UQro2V.