Contracting for Effective Human Rights Due Diligence Takeaways

Key Takeaways

• Contracts are essential tools for embedding effective human rights due diligence in global supply chains.
• Traditional risk shifting contracts can increase human rights risks rather than manage them, as they could impose them on the party least capable of addressing them.
• Responsible contracting promotes risk sharing, responsible purchasing, and meaningful remediation.
• Buyer codes of conduct and strong governance frameworks help align procurement with human rights expectations.

The Role of Contracts in Protecting Human Rights

Contracts are central to translating human rights policies into binding obligations within global supply chains. They act as the legal connections between buyers and suppliers, turning expectations into enforceable duties. When structured well, contracts create accountability, improve transparency, and support high quality human rights risk management. For more detail on these concepts, please refer to the accompanying video at the end of this article.

The Limitations of Traditional Risk Shifting Contracts

Traditional commercial contracts typically place the entire burden of human rights compliance on suppliers. This approach may appear efficient, but it can unintentionally heighten human rights risks.

One Sided Supplier Guarantees

Standard contracts often rely on supplier only assurances that the supply chain is entirely free of human rights issues. In practice, this is rarely realistic. Such clauses can discourage proactive investigation because any disclosure of a problem could imply an immediate breach. This reduces the likelihood of transparency and impedes timely remediation.

Insufficient Recognition of Buyer Influence

Traditional contracts tend to ignore the role that buyers themselves play in creating human rights risk. Purchasing behaviours, such as unrealistic lead times or aggressive pricing, can directly pressure suppliers into practices associated with low wages, excessive overtime, or labour exploitation. Recognising buyer responsibility is crucial to effective risk management.

Ineffective Remediation Mechanisms

Conventional remedies such as order cancellation or termination do little to address the underlying harm experienced by affected workers. In some cases, termination can entrench and prolong abuses. Contracts that prioritise genuine remedy over punitive measures are better aligned with international human rights standards.

Building Contracts That Enable Human Rights Due Diligence

A modern approach to contracting aligns with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines. One useful reference point is the European Model Clauses developed to reflect the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

Shared Commitment to Managing Human Rights Risks

Instead of shifting risk, responsible contracts encourage risk sharing. This includes cooperative processes for assessing, preventing, and addressing human rights issues across the supply chain.

Requirements for Responsible Purchasing Practices

Buyers commit to aligning their own behaviour with responsible practices, including fair pricing, realistic production timelines, and accurate forecasting. These commitments help reduce structural pressures that can otherwise drive human rights abuses.

Prioritising Human Rights Remediation

Responsible contracting focuses on remedying harm before resorting to traditional commercial sanctions. This supports meaningful engagement between buyers and suppliers and improves outcomes for affected workers.

Using Buyer Codes of Conduct to Strengthen Human Rights Management

A buyer code of conduct outlines the behaviours and standards the buyer commits to adopting in its dealings with suppliers. It complements supplier codes by clarifying the buyer’s own responsibilities.

How Buyer Codes Support Effective Risk Management

When designed and implemented properly, buyer codes of conduct help embed human rights due diligence into procurement activities. They can clarify expectations, improve transparency, enhance leverage, support responsible purchasing, and strengthen grievance and remediation processes. Increasingly, such policies are becoming standard practice across industries.

Strengthening Contracting Through Robust Governance and Implementation

Modern responsible contracting also depends on strong governance structures and ongoing review.

Contracting Mechanics and Risk Allocation

There is a balance to be struck between enforceability and fostering supplier cooperation. Effective approaches use proportional remedies that escalate gradually, from corrective actions to suspension and ultimately termination if issues remain unaddressed. Contracts should preserve audit rights, regulatory cooperation, and whistleblower protections, as well as ensure that data commitments align with privacy and competition laws. In high risk sectors, shared remediation funding may be appropriate.

Governance, Implementation, and Continuous Improvement

Governance frameworks should include templates with clause sets tailored to risk level, geography, and supplier importance. Change control mechanisms are important to ensure compliance with evolving legislation, such as updates to ESG and human rights standards. Organisations should maintain a clause register linked to relevant legal frameworks, track non compliance and remediation efforts, and feed lessons learned back into contracting strategy.

Closing Thoughts

Shifting from traditional risk shifting contracts to responsible contracting practices supports more effective human rights due diligence and risk management across supply chains. As businesses increasingly embed these principles into procurement, responsible purchasing is moving from aspiration to expectation.