Thanks for your comment.

The growing importance of transparency for companies seeking to demonstrate meaningful corporate responsibility is a clear trend, and strengthening non-financial reporting by adopting GRI and by improving social auditing are two ways to improve transparency. Just as business and human rights has emerged as a field of study over the past fifteen years, social auditing has become a professional discipline with its own skill sets and best practices. The standards you cite sound like a worthwhile effort to advance the profession.

You raise an interesting point about the connection between litigation and reporting. A key case was Nike v. Kasky (2002), in which Nike was sued for unfair business practices under California law, based on its public statements about labor conditions in its supply chain. At first, Kasky had a chilling effect on the communication of corporate responsibility efforts in the United States. But since then, most companies active on corporate responsibility issues have concluded that the benefits of reporting outweigh the risks of litigation or of not communicating at all.

It remains to be seen whether GRI and social auditing will be used in future litigation as benchmarks for appropriate corporate due diligence on human rights issues. I view them as tools for reducing the risk of future liability, both legal and reputational.

Due diligence and reporting in place of extreme litigation seems productive and widely applicable. From what I hear, it indeed seems to be gaining momentum.

The trend begs the question of how to improve efficacy in reporting, I think, as well.

The “Standards for the Knowledge and Skills of Social Auditors” (www.socialauditor.org — financed by US Department of State’s Office of International Labor Affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility) project is an interesting approach to Human Rights and Labor issues for CSR practitioners the world over. To address the potential use of independent auditors in Human Rights and Labor Reporting — or “Social Reporting” — for companies, CREA and Verite have come together to research what the ideal auditors need to bring to the table, what skills they must have, where their focus should lie, etc. An interesting project that could change and/or enhance reporting as it takes center stage.

Do you see courts or litigation practice referring to GRI, internal measurement standards you mentioned, Global Compact, auditing possibilities, etc? Do the legal and reporting functions still present separately in your experience?

Hope to continue the conversation…

Rose