2009 Castan Centre Intern

Felicity Simons, Global Compact, New York City

Report

Witnessing the changing face of corporate social responsibility in New York

From walking down the hallway and bumping into Condoleezza Rice on one of her last visits to the United Nations as US Secretary of State, to being stopped by the Secret Service on the street outside the United Nations while a “senior level diplomat” was transported out of the area, working at the United Nations Global Compact Office in New York was never dull! 

The United Nations Global Compact Office (UNGC) is the largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative in the world.  It offers participants (business, civil society, governments, and others) opportunities to improve their sustainability and corporate citizenship by developing, implementing and sharing sustainability principles and practices.  The UNGC’s aim is not to create legally binding principles for business, but to encourage business to act in accordance with broader UN goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals.

The UNGC office has a staff of about 15 incredible people who, as a group, produce work that more closely resembles that of a much larger office.  From the moment I arrived, I was welcomed with open arms and thrown in the deep end.  My first official task was to write a news item launching a new human rights risk assessment tool for business.  Having almost no familiarity with such tools (and not too much more experience writing news items), I spent the next hour in near panic trying to find out as much as I could about them.  Thankfully the research paid off and my news item (with some editing) was posted on the website that afternoon.  It was the first of many news items that I wrote.

The tasks I performed over the course of the internship were as varied as they were exciting.  Under the watchful eye of my wonderful supervisor Ursula Wynhoven (Head, Policy and Legal) I assisted with the organisation of a number of multi-stakeholder events including the Global Compact’s Board Meeting, at which I met (and shook the hand of!), Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; and ‘Advancing Women in the Global Marketplace’, a partnership between the UN Global Compact and UNIFEM.  I was also given the opportunity to explore a range of human rights issues in a business context including: labour migration, supply chain management, grievance mechanisms, human rights risk assessment tools, stakeholder engagement, gender equality and women’s rights and indigenous rights, just to name a few!

One of the main tasks I undertook during the internship was to coordinate the publication of the third edition of “Embedding Human Rights in Business Practice” (available to the public later this year), a joint publication of the UN Global Compact Office and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.  This human rights case study series details ways in which companies from different regions and sectors worldwide have endeavoured to incorporate human rights into their core business practice.  It is intended to be used as a learning tool for other businesses to incorporate human rights into their management practices.  As part of this project I developed a case study template from scratch, giving case authors substantive guidance for writing of human rights case studies.  This template is now available on the UNGC website.

The work of the UNGC is unique.  Nowhere else in the world is there an organisation aimed specifically at assisting business to incorporate sustainable principles and practices into their core management practices.  I feel privileged to have been able to contribute in some small way to the amazing work of this United Nations office.  Enormous thanks to the Castan Centre for providing me with this incredible opportunity.

Profile

Felicity Simons is passionate about increasing public awareness and understanding of human rights and how they impact on local and international communities.  To this end, over a number of years she has volunteered with Meals on Wheels, the Australian Red Cross’ International Humanitarian Law Department, Rosies’ Street Outreach Program, the Asylum Seeker Welcome Centre, and is currently Vice-President of the Prison Legal Education and Assistance (PLEA) Project.  Recently Felicity also completed a Castan Centre In-House internship.

The level of Felicity’s commitment to human rights became clear in 2006 when she was awarded a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship which she undertook in Senegal, West Africa.  The purpose of the scholarship was to foster international peace and understanding by building partnerships and relationships across cultures.  While in Senegal Felicity witnessed first-hand the impact (positive and negative) that international corporations have on local communities.  She became aware of the need for companies to understand the culture, traditions and needs of the local communities in which they operate to ensure they contribute positively to those communities.  Felicity is therefore very excited by the opportunity to work with the United Nations Global Compact to promote corporate social responsibility.

Felicity hopes to use her degree and her experience with the UN Global Compact to encourage responsible and ethical business practice, in Australia and internationally, and to ensure all companies are aware of and respect human rights.

Felicity is currently in her 5^th year of a combined Arts/Law degree.  During her time at Monash, she has focussed her studies on International Politics, French language studies and Human Rights Law. 


UN Global Compact, New York City