Good stewardship requires posing and answering difficult questions, especially concerning business activities in conflict-affected and high-risk areas where the risks are highest to people, the planet, and portfolios. The World Bank estimates that two-thirds of the world’s poor will live in such areas by 2030. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the military coup in Myanmar, and forced labor in XUAR, China make this an urgent and compelling topic now. It is up to investors and companies to respond to these risks with systemic solutions, putting conflict-sensitive policies and practices into place.
SGI’s 2022 Conference: Corporate Human Rights Due Diligence in Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas will take place on October 11th at 4:30PM CT. We are delighted to announce that our keynoter will be Bennett Freeman, Associate Fellow in the International Law at Chatham House.
Following our keynote, our associate director, Chris Cox, will moderate a panel with leading experts:
- Shari Gittleman, Senior Director External Relations at Newmont Mining Corporation
- Anita Dorett, Program Director for ICCR’s Investor Alliance for Human Rights
- Samuel Jones, President and Co-founder of the Heartland Initiative
- Patricia Zerega, Director of Shareholder Advocacy at Mercy Investment Services
In the conference, we hope to explore these questions:
- Do socially responsible investors need to respond to human rights issues in their portfolio? Can they just write a screen?
- What human rights issues should a responsible investor respond to and how?
- How would a responsible investor ask one of their money managers to do this?
- What is heightened human rights due diligence for investors and companies? How does an investor or a company go about doing it?
- How do investors and companies assess human rights and geopolitical risks of emerging markets, informed by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)?
- How can investors and companies respond to state-sponsored actions that undermine the rules-based order necessary to safeguard the international community and the global economy?
- With 500 companies withdrawing operations from Russia, has a new standard been set for corporate responsibility and a stakeholder economy?
Conducting heightened due diligence helps companies and investors to identify and mitigate human rights risks, while simultaneously addressing the potential material risks – legal, operational, and financial – associated with areas impacted by conflict. Join us for a conversation on the difficult questions investors must ask of their portfolio companies and themselves when seeking to be rights-respecting stewards in an increasingly conflicted world.
Individual tickets for in-person attendance are $75 per person, and individual tickets for virtual participations are available at $50 per person. You can purchase individual tickets for the Conference here. The conference will be hosted at Fox Point Lutheran Church, located at 7510 N Santa Monica Blvd. in Fox Point, WI, 53217.
More information about the Conference can be found here.
Seventh Generation Interfaith Coalition for Responsible Investing 