C6: Human Rights Policies and Processes
Disclosure requirements for human rights policies covering child labour, forced labour, discrimination and more.
VSME Standard Reference
The following content is extracted from the official EFRAG Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for non-listed SMEs (VSME), December 2024.
View original VSME Standard (PDF)Selko Insights
Scope: Own personnel only
It is important to understand that the C6 disclosure concerns only the company’s own personnel — not the supply chain. The policies and codes of conduct referenced here relate to how the company treats its own workforce.
Recommended: Discrimination & accident prevention
At Selko, we feel that discrimination prevention and accident prevention policies (as well as a general code of conduct) are relevant to most companies. We recommend that companies put these policies in place even if they do not currently have them.
Consider: Child labour, forced labour & human trafficking
Child labour, forced labour, and human trafficking are very serious topics that should always be considered. However, it is natural for many companies not to have separate formal policies if the risk is simply not present in their operations. Some factors that affect risk:
Sector — e.g. agriculture, cleaning, construction, or hospitality carry higher risk
Company size — larger companies typically face greater exposure
Location — some regions carry higher risk than others