Two years in the making, Social LobbyMap (SLM) has released crucial research to improve transparency around the impacts of corporate lobbying on human rights legislation. Following collaboration with colleagues from various sectors, a process of refining ideas around methodologies and continuous learning, the report on how corporate lobbying shaped the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive was published earlier this week.
The EIRIS Foundation, which is responsible for the Social LobbyMap initiative, held a webinar of researchers, interested parties and experts to unpack the research and explore the ways this could be a powerful tool for human rights researchers.
Nabylah Abo Dehman, Head of Stewardship, Social Issues and Human Rights at Principles for Responsible Investment explained that the latest Social LobbyMap human rights advocacy data was particularly key because transparency in corporate lobbying and disclosures from companies on social lobbying are rare.
An important and timely development
She said: “Being able to create clear and specific asks [in our stewardship approaches] has been challenging – and that’s why we’re pleased to see the launch of SLM. This is an important and timely development that helps fill a gap in the ecosystem. It can help us identify inconsistencies and highlight good practices where they exist,” adding “Social LobbyMap is a great step towards building some kind of infrastructure for responsible social lobbying.”
As an MEP, Richard Howitt has both been lobbied and participated in lobbying. He spoke about how, during his time in Brussels, he had experienced opposition from trade associations when trying to pass legislation and had to work to encourage them to change positions. He noted that policy influence lobbying can be positive: “if you have an intelligent conversation with the business community, you can get something through that’s good for business.”
Social LobbyMap rewards companies that do and say the right things
“Social LobbyMap isn’t against lobbying and the SLM rewards companies that do and say the right things. But one of the problems in many countries is that conversations take place in corridors and on phone calls which doesn’t enable us to know who’s come to an understanding. Social LobbyMap is not just looking at formal consultations – it’s looking at reports and freedom of information (FOI) requests”, which leads to improved visibility on who is saying what, where and how.
Richard added: “I really believe this report and its methodology is the most comprehensive review possible of what’s going on in the case of corporate lobbying.”
Exactly the kind of tool John Ruggie envisioned
Andrea Shemberg, chair of Global Business Initiative on Human Rights, agreed, commenting “This is exactly the kind of tool John Ruggie (Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School) envisioned. Social LobbyMap is a perfect example of a tool which is so useful for different stakeholders.
“Often public affairs can be very fragmented inside companies. Those in charge of HR issues may not know or work with those in charge of public affairs. Within the company itself those messages, ideas, languages (on HR) aren’t lined up. SLM is a platform for discussion – a way for people to start talking about this and to align ideas and messages more favourably.”
Anti-Slavery International’s Sian Lea felt that SLM offered a tool that enable resource stretched organisations to target their advocacy work effectively, explaining that “SLM gives us an informed position to prioritise where we dedicate our time.”
A tool to learn from the past and inform the future
She added: “We can use this as a tool to learn from the past in order to inform future advocacy. It may also bring more accountability to organisations – when this information is put in a really accessible way for the world to see, it might make them more hesitant about what they’re saying and more thoughtful about what they’re doing.”
For Sian, SLM shines a light on the amount of opposition to human rights legislation. She said: “When I first read this report, I found it a bit demoralising to see amount of opposition. But looking at it again, I was able to see the effect we had without having this level of knowledge. I’m really hopeful that civil society organisations (CSOs) can be even more effectively advocating now we have this type of information.”
Deeper context to come
But the work doesn’t stop there. Over the coming year, SLM have a few smaller analyses to release, adding deeper context and information to the issues faced by those advocating for human rights legislation. From the PRI mining sector report, to an assessment of the hotly debated Omnibus assessment, as well as a report into labour indicators and looking back on five years of the CSDDD. Not only that, but SLM will expand into additional sectors and companies, as well as more thematic areas.
If you care about political accountability and human rights, now’s the time to get involved – SLM is calling for your input to guide its next investigations. Help us shape the future of our research and corporate influence on human rights by letting us know where you think we should focus our attention next. Email us to collaborate.
