Summary
This Operational Guidance elaborates on the Accountability Framework’s Core Principles 2.1 and 2.3 regarding respect for workers’ rights in the context of all production, processing, and trade activities in the agriculture and forestry sectors. This guidance includes:
1. An overview of company obligations to respect the rights of workers;
2. Elaboration of each of the workers’ rights provisions, including
a summary of what they entail and best practice for preventing
and mitigating risks of adverse impacts to these rights related to
commodity supply chains;
3. Information on how effective company management systems,
including due diligence processes, can be developed and
implemented to help safeguard workers’ rights.
Recognizing that there are already numerous guidelines and resources
available to define and support the implementation of workers’ rights norms,
a main purpose of this document is to synthesize accepted best practice to
help facilitate its adoption by companies. Additionally, this document guides
companies on the establishment of policies and systems that are effective at
managing workers’ rights issues in an integrated manner alongside other key
human rights and environmental issues. Other sections of the Framework are
cross-referenced where they are relevant to company efforts to respect workers’
rights. For readers seeking additional detail, this Operational Guidance also
points to key external resources on various workers’ rights topics.