AEGON sustainability experts discuss corporations' roles in helping protect international human rights.

1. Sustainability column:
Rights and Responsibilities
Companies have been given a bigger role in helping protect international human rights.
Outside the rarefied world of the United Nations, few people have heard of John
Ruggie. But he‟s about to make a big difference to the way multinational companies do
business, and particularly how they look at the issue of human rights.
Until last year, Ruggie – a Harvard professor – was the UN‟s Special Representative on
Business and Human Rights. His Guiding Principles, published in mid-2011, give
companies more specific responsibility, alongside governments, for respecting and
protecting international human rights.
That‟s important – before Ruggie, human rights had effectively been the preserve of the
world‟s governments. The UN‟s Declaration of Human Rights, introduced in 1948, for
example, makes no mention of the role of business.
Ruggie‟s Principles aren‟t law yet, but they‟re gaining in importance. The UN formally
adopted the principles a year ago. Since then, the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development, the European Union and the International Finance
Corporation, part of the World Bank, have all endorsed Ruggie‟s proposals.
Experts estimate that it will take at least five years for the Ruggie principles to be fully
accepted. In the meantime, there are still questions about how enforceable the
principles will be – and where precisely the responsibilities of business begin and end.
In the Netherlands, the government has set up a working group to look at the
implications of Ruggie‟s principles for the financial sector. AEGON is one of those taking
part.
Ruggie wants companies to do three things: firstly, implement a human rights policy;
secondly, put in place a system to monitor potential risks to human rights; and thirdly,
make sure any human rights abuses can be redressed as quickly and effectively as
possible. It won‟t be enough any more for companies simply to assert that they respect
human rights. They will have to know that they do, and show that they do.
Potentially, the new principles could reach into almost all aspects of a company‟s
business. Ruggie applies not only to a company‟s own activities, but also to its products
and services and to its business relationships – even if the company itself is not directly
involved in alleged abuses.
What‟s more, at the heart of the principles stand the International Bill of Human Rights
and the core standards of the International Labor Organization, which between them

2. cover areas such as non-discrimination, equal pay and the use of forced or child labor.
In other words, Ruggie could shape not only how companies choose their commercial
partners, but also, in some cases, how they organize their
own businesses.
What is AEGON’s position?
Building Ruggie into decision-making won‟t be easy. Many
Most of AEGON‟s businesses are companies already have human rights policies. But Ruggie
located in countries with good human
is asking them to go much further. The Dutch brewer
rights records. According to Freedom
House – the Washington-based Heineken recently took two years to overhaul and re-write
human rights group – only two its human rights policy to bring it into line with the new
„AEGON‟ countries are not currently principles.
listed as „free‟ – China („not free‟) and
Turkey („partially free‟). AEGON‟s But Ruggie should bring benefits to companies, as well as
Human Rights Policy has been in more work. The principles will help companies identify
place since 2007 – and covers all
potential risks – and deal with them before they damage
those businesses where we have
majority or management control.
corporate reputations. It will also provide companies with a
Under the policy, we are guided in our clearer idea of their responsibilities – particularly important
business activities by the UN for those working in developing countries where
Declaration of Human Rights, and government institutions are the weakest. And it will give
standards from the UN Global
stakeholders a much better understanding of what
Compact and the ILO. Bigger risks
could come from suppliers or the
companies are doing – or not doing – to protect human
companies in which AEGON invests – rights.
rather than our own businesses. Here,
AEGON recently carried out an initial These are vital considerations – not only for the companies
risk assessment of its leading involved, but for those that work with them, or invest in
suppliers in the Netherlands, while the them. Ruggie himself has pointed to the world mining
company‟s Responsible Investment
industry as a good example of how much human rights
Policy – introduced in 2011 – already
covers international human rights and
concerns can end up costing. Disruptions and protests by
areas such as child labor, local communities, he reckons, cost a “world-class” mining
discrimination, safe working operation an average of between $20 million and $30
environments and anti-corruption. million a week – approximately $1.5 billion a year. It‟s not
For more information on AEGON‟s just the mining industry – household brand names like
Human Rights policy, please see: Apple, Nike and Gap have all recently been caught up in
http://www.aegon.com/Documents/ae allegations of human rights abuses.
gon-com/Sustainability/AEGON-
Human-rights- Under external pressure, companies in recent years have
policy.pdf?epslanguage=en been taking human rights more seriously. What Ruggie
does is give them a much clearer framework for dealing
with these outside concerns. But, as Ruggie himself has
said, the principles are not a „one-size-fits-all‟ solution: “They‟re not a toolkit. You don‟t
take it off the shelf and plug it in and get an answer.” In the months and years ahead,
companies will have to work through the issues for themselves.

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