KOBC First to Earn Level 2 of ‘Sustainable Business and Human Rights Certification’

[Financial News] Korea Ocean Business Corporation (KOBC) said on the 7th that it had become the first to receive Level 2 of the Sustainable Business and Human Rights (SBHR) Certification from Korea ESG Data, in recognition of its achievements in establishing a system to remedy human rights violations and building an organizational culture that respects human rights.
The certification assesses companies’ and institutions’ human rights management systems and their actual level of implementation, based on domestic and international human rights management standards, including the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB). The Level 2 certification KOBC received this time goes beyond simply assessing whether a human rights management system has been established: it verifies whether human rights management is functioning within the organization and evaluates concrete operational results.
KOBC has, in effect, been recognized not only for the level at which it has established a human rights management system, assessed under Level 1, but also for its practical implementation of human rights management. In particular, the corporation’s independent remedy system, established to protect victims of human rights violations and ensure effective redress, reportedly received high marks in this assessment.
To handle human rights violation cases more objectively and independently, the corporation operates an external, independent human rights center under contract with a law firm. It has also strengthened its remedy system by forming a Human Rights Violation Remedy Committee made up primarily of external experts, enhancing objectivity and expertise in handling cases and protecting victims’ anonymity and confidentiality.
Efforts to identify human rights-related risk factors in advance and improve organizational culture, as well as responses after human rights violations occur, also received positive evaluations. The corporation also conducted in-depth group interviews with groups considered relatively vulnerable to human rights risks, including non-regular workers and staff of partner companies stationed on-site, to directly identify the human rights-related difficulties they experience at work and areas for improvement.
Corporation President Ahn Byung-gil said, “Human rights management is not something that ends with putting systems in place; what matters is making them work in practice on the ground. Taking this certification as an opportunity, we will further strengthen the system to prevent human rights violations and provide effective protection for victims, and continue human rights management that employees can experience in practice.”
[email protected] Byeon Ok-hwan Reporter