Dear Members and Friends

On 10 December we will observe Human Rights Day. This marks the day on which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

75 years on, the state of human rights is downright appalling in far too many countries thanks to armed conflict. In many others it is under threat from a lack of respect for representative institutions, from electorates who don’t take their responsibilities seriously, from professional politicians out for themselves, from selfish demagogues, from practices inimical to logic and human survival and from climate change.

Human beings are the cause of the denigration of human rights in all cases. We can only blame our species. So, what is to be done?

Clearly, by doing everything within our control to treat people with the same respect we expect to receive from them. In business, that means Boards and senior leadership teams need to take their responsibility for ensuring their business has a fit for purpose, positive workplace culture. One in which no one is bullied, discriminated against, harassed or undermined. Where people are encouraged not demeaned. Where hiring and promotion are fair and based on merit.

Such practices will not only make for more successful people and businesses, they will also help ensure better home lives and better treatment of everyone with whom we come into contact each day. None of this is easy. All of this is necessary to sustain personal, commercial, societal and national success. Human rights are enabled when we take our responsibilities for our own behavior seriously and when we consider others’ rights and responsibilities seriously too.

Yours faithfully
Victor Mills
Chief Executive