Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Save the Children UK
EXPANSION OF
CORE RECOMMENDATION
TO THE
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
SELECT COMMITTEE
HEARING ON
HIV/AIDS ON CORPORATE
SECTOR SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY:
"Promotes (in collaboration with the Department
of Trade and Industry) increasing corporate involvement in HIV/AIDS,
and focus on HIV as part of corporate sector social responsibility
in relation to employees, their children and the wider social
environment."
Mindful that the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights calls on "every organ of society" to promote
and protect human rights, Save the Children believes that it is
the duty of government to ensure that, among other actors, the
private sector takes its own responsibility for this mission.
DFID should therefore pro-actively work with the DTI and the FCO
to use every available channel to urge large British companies
operating overseas to take positive action to protect and promote
the rights of people infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. In addition,
as part of its anti-poverty mandate, DFID should work with foreign
governments, chambers of commerce and other bilateral and multilateral
donors to urge foreign companies, large and small, to do the same.
Company action should have expanding spheres
of influence, from the company's core business operations (employment
policies, workforce education, client and customer advocacy/education)
to its business partners (supply chain support, peer education/advocacy),
its local communities (education, care provision etc with local
NGOs), and in the policy arena (national AIDS strategies).
In particular, Save the Children recommends
that DFID:
— works to ensure that companies adhere
to existing regional and national codes on HIV/AIDS and employment,
such as that of SADC, and build the capacity of national government
to monitor adherence. Where such codes do not exist, DFID should
support their development in order to promote and protect the
employment rights of people infected or affected by HIV/AIDS;
— urges companies, given the widespread
evidence of the cost effectiveness of employers' treatment and
counselling programmes[11],
to provide such services to employees infected or affected by
HIV/AIDS in liaison with NGOs and governmental organisations;
— ensures that companies protect the
rights of the children of such employees, for example by ensuring
that the burden of parental care does not obstruct their right
to education; children's inheritance rights are protected; quality
HIV-related ante-natal education is provided;
— encourages companies to carry out
peer education and prevention programmes for their workforce and
dependents. Special attention should be paid to the families and
home communities of migrant employees;
— promotes company-led customer education
and prevention programmes aimed at both children and adults, such
as retail outlet initiatives, social marketing;
— emphasizes the responsibility of
multinational companies to support the small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) in their supply chains to address HIV/AIDS in the workplace
as above, by sharing resources and costs in proportion to the
value accrued up the supply chain.
— plays a direct role in promoting
and supporting SME coalitions to develop low cost workforce policies
and programmes on HIV/AIDS;
— encourages companies to influence
and work with peers in local business environment and professional
associations for responsible approach to HIV/AIDS;
— works with appropriate players in
government and business to ensure that insurance companies can
sustain equitable policies towards people infected or affected
by HIV/AIDS; and
— promotes an active role for companies
in national AIDS coalitions.
Save the Children UK
October 2000
11 eg finding of Volkswagen Brazil that providing
these services led to a 40 per cent reduction in costs associated
with HIV/AIDS-Business Responses to HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS et al, 2000:
p 21. Back
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