From Human Resources to Human Rights

Abstract

Despite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a majority of the world’s working population does not enjoy access to decent work and a sustainable livelihood. Humanitarian work psychology focuses on this issue, which resonates with the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of decent work and shared prosperity for all. The chapter outlines a series of human rights structures that should, as a matter of course, be incorporated into work psychology teaching, research, and service – including workplace consultancy. Their incorporation contributes to the International Labour Organization’s Decent Work Agenda under SDG8, as well as to the remaining sixteen SDGs, including SDG17, Partnership. We outline the nature and ethos of key human rights structures at work. These include UN charters such as the UN Development Programme and the Global Compact; the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for MNEs [multinational enterprises] and the Living Wage; and finally, a series of New Diplomacies (CSEND, 2012) for utilizing these structures to help bring workplace policies into line with the SDGs in general and SDG8 in particular. In so doing, we show that human rights are not at the periphery of good business and decent sustainable organizations; rather, they are their heart. Human rights are a nucleus for making work more humanitarian and livelihoods more sustainable.