| dc.description.abstract | This master thesis examinates Norwegian companies´ work with human rights due diligence and the Transparency Act. The aim was to research in what degree companies know whether they violate human rights or not in their value chain. Additionally, there is a knowledge or information gap in the Transparency Act reports, and in human rights in business in general. By conducting this research, I attempt to fill some of these gaps to better understand how companies work with human rights and the Transparency Act. To do that I conducted semi-structures interviews with five Norwegian companies, six representatives in total. I contacted them based on using the UN Global Compacts members list, recommendations from a former internship colleague, and doing research on prospective companies I knew were relevant for my thesis topic. The interview questions revolved around how the companies work with human rights due diligence, how the representatives work is organized, the most important measures the company took to prevent, uncover, and rectify violations, as well as questions regarding their success with their human rights work. The research showed that the companies were predominantly positive to the Transparency Act and were not affected negatively in any significant way by the enforcement. Although, they expressed that there is room for improvement. Many perceive the legislative text to be too vague and are calling for clearer frameworks for reporting. Some also criticized the law for having a consumer-based view, and that it in general works better on paper than in real life. All companies were experienced with human rights and had sufficient measures in place before the transparency Act was enforced. Only one company found violation in their first reporting period, which is surprising when knowing that violations are likely to happen. I did get many interesting perspectives, and information about how Norwegian companies work with human rights in general, and regarding the Transparency Act. | |
