Mazars endorses doing business sustainably through human rights compliance - Mazars - Indonesia

Respecting environment, social, and human rights issues is crucial in current business environment, where most major firms have included this agenda into their its Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) strategies. Many good international companies have started embarking on a CSR strategy but fails to identify specific risks such as risks in sustainability and human rights areas.

20/10/2010

Seminar on “Doing Business Sustainably: Human Rights Compliance”

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
Hotel Nikko, Jakarta

Business is now playing a more pronounced and visible role in the human rights debate following an increasing pressure for companies to respect human rights. Companies have the responsibility to act with due diligence to avoid infringing on the rights of others as laid out in the UN Human Rights’ policy framework known as Protect, Respect and Remedy framework that was put forth by John Ruggie – the UN Special Representative for Business and Human Rights in 2008 to generate commitment of companies and all elements of the business community to take human rights into considerations.

With the increasing awareness of business communities across the globe of the relevance of integrating Human Rights Compliance into their operations, Mazars initiated and sponsored a seminar on Human Rights Compliance on 20 October 2010 in Jakarta.

The seminar that was moderated by James Kallman, President Director of Mazars in Indonesia aims to help business leaders to understand better the importance and contexts of human rights in the business world and to move in the right direction.

For the seminar, Mazars featured five high-profile speakers to share their expertise and experiences with the business communities, including:

1. Dr. Homayoun Alizadeh, the Regional Representative for South-East Asia Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR),
2. Dr. Bernd Sagasser, legal partner of Marccus Partners
3. Letjen Agus Widjojo, Chairman of National Institute for Democratic Governance and former Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), representing The Military and National Police Faction
4. Nur Kholis, Deputy Chairman – External Relations - Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights/ KOMNAS HAM
5. Marzuki Darusman, Senior Advisor Mazars Asia Pacific, who has just recently been appointed Director of the Human Rights Research Center for ASEAN (HRRCA)

Not less than 75 participants from corporations, government institutions, NGOs, State-owned enterprises and media participated in the seminar. The seminar concluded that Human Rights Compliance is a powerful strategy for corporations to conduct their business in a sustainable manner or legitimize their operations. The event itself provided strong visibility for Mazars as among the first organisations that is taking the lead in human rights compliance.