Ms. Angela Joo-Hyun Kang, Founder and Executive President of Global Competitiveness Empowerment Forum (GCEF) was invited as a breakout session moderator of the "Global CSR Conference 2013" co-hosted by the United Nations Global Compact Korea, Korea Management Association(KMAC) and ECOA(Ethics & Complaince Officer Association) of US.
Date: November 13, 2013
Venue: Sheraton Grande Walker Hill Hotel, Seoul, Republic of Korea
*Web site: http://www.globalcsrconference.com/ko/program/Agenda.asp
Breakout Session B: Human Rights, Labour and Business
Moderator:
Ms. Angela Joo-hyun Kang, Founder and Executive President of GCEF
Speaker:
Ms. Ochoa, Christiana, Professor of Law at Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington
Mr. Kim, Min-suk, Manager of CSR Department, LG Electronics
Panelists:
Mr. Ahn, Suk-mo, Director-General of Policy, Education and International Affairs, National Human Rights Commission of Korea
Mr. Kim, Sung-jin, Executive Director & Chief Operations Officer at Korea Labor Foundation International
* Introduction of session:
Business and human rights are often considered to be mutually exclusive. Labor, management and government have endeavored tripartite processes and social dialogues but it is difficult to go beyond the zero sum in these discussions.
Over the years, internationally recognized standards in the areas of human rights and labor, such as the Endorsement of UN ”Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights by the Human Rights Council in 2011, , have increased calls for businesses to operate differently.
As corporations go global, challenges related with human rights and labor become complex and affect domestic and international business environment in workplace, supply chain, marketplace (B2C, B2B and B2G etc.), community and governance in various ways.
Are human rights and labor just obstacles to business growth? Can they not become a component of a corporations competitive advantage? How can companies promote good business practices by integrating/implementing human rights and labor into business policies to generate plus sum dialogues and even business cases?