Human rights is a major issue in business operations. What are some problems that businesses cause, and how can they be dealt with?
人权是企业经营中的一个重大问题。企业造成的问题有哪些？如何处理？
The global community has witnessed significant regional and global integration under the concept of globalisation. In this regard, countries and regional blocs have focused on eliminating different barriers to trade and movement of people as a way to facilitate corporate expansion and as such, lay a foundation for rapid and consistent economic growth and development. Whereas such integration has helped create new markets and a platform for businesses to operate in an international environment, it has also contributed to a myriad of problems. One of these problems is human rights abuses. In reference to Ruggie (2011), the growth of transnational economic activities and the expansion of the private sector to global markets have been instrumental in creating the social awareness on the negative impacts of businesses on human rights. In this regard, despite their contribution to the world economy, businesses are the major contributors of human rights abuses across the globe. This paper explores some of the problems that businesses cause and the solutions that could be adopted to address these problems. Importantly, the paper will focus on human right abuses in the technology sector. Notably, gaining insights on how businesses impact human rights is critical to the formulation and implementation of laws, regulations and policies to prevent human rights abuses in different regions across the globe.
在全球化的概念下，国际社会见证了重大的区域和全球一体化。在这方面，各国和地区集团都致力于消除贸易和人员流动的不同壁垒，以促进企业扩张，从而为经济的快速增长和持续发展奠定基础。尽管这种整合有助于创造新市场和企业在国际环境中运作的平台，但它也造成了无数问题。其中一个问题是侵犯人权。关于Ruggie（2011年），跨国经济活动的增长和私营部门向全球市场的扩张有助于提高社会对企业对人权的负面影响的认识。在这方面，尽管企业对世界经济作出了贡献，但它们是全球侵犯人权行为的主要贡献者。本文探讨了企业造成的一些问题以及可以采取的解决方案。重要的是，该文件将侧重于技术部门的侵犯人权行为。值得注意的是，了解企业如何影响人权对于制定和实施法律、法规和政策以防止全球不同地区侵犯人权至关重要。
[Problem 1] To begin with one of the greatest forms of human rights abuses that are associated with businesses in the technology sector is child labour. In line with, whereas the most technology firms have sound policy documents that indicate their dedication to promoting and preserving the rights of human being, evidence suggest that their supply chain systems and networks use child labour, thus violating the rights of children. In a 2016 Amnesty International report, it was established that children as young as seven years were working in severe conditions in the cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (Kelly, 2016). A follow-up on the destination of these minerals reveal that most of them ended in Asia, where it was mainly used to make batteries for mobile phones. According to this Amnesty International report, 40 percent of cobalt from DRC is processed by a Chinese company, Huayou Cobalt, which later sells it to battery makers in the supply chain networks of technology companies such as Vodafone, Microsoft and Apple (Kelly, 2016). This problem of abuse of children’s right because of child labour is worsened by the fact that none of the multinational companies are willing to acknowledge the problem. For example, Nolan (2015) observes that no socially responsible company has any desire to publicly accept that child labour could be contributing to their success. Such denial of human rights abuses have often contributed to the persistence of the vice, where some unscrupulous suppliers use child labour as a way to minimize their costs of production and as such, create a platform to maximise their profits.
[问题1]首先，与技术部门企业有关的更大形式的侵犯人权行为之一是童工。与此一致，尽管大多数技术公司都有健全的政策文件，表明它们致力于促进和维护人权，但有证据表明，它们的供应链系统和网络使用童工，从而侵犯了儿童权利。在2016年大赦国际的一份报告中，确定只有7岁的儿童在刚果民主共和国（DRC）的钴矿场在恶劣条件下工作（Kelly，2016）。对这些矿物的目的地进行的后续调查显示，它们中的大多数都是在亚洲结束的，在那里，这些矿物主要用于制造手机电池。根据大赦国际的这份报告，刚果民主共和国40%的钴由一家中国公司华友钴加工，华友钴随后将其出售给沃达丰、微软和苹果等科技公司供应链网络中的电池制造商（Kelly，2016）。由于没有一家跨国公司愿意承认这一问题，由于童工而滥用儿童权利的问题更加严重。例如，Nolan（2015）观察到，没有一家对社会负责的公司愿意公开承认童工可能有助于他们的成功。这种对侵犯人权行为的否认往往助长了这种恶习的持续存在，在这种恶习中，一些肆无忌惮的供应商利用童工作为将生产成本降至更低的一种方式，从而创造了一个使其利润更大化的平台。