A/HRC/21/21 benchmarking of company efforts that has not been possible to date”.27Alignment with the Guiding Principles will therefore provide a means to manage human rights risks and meet rising expectations that investments entered into in the name of the United Nations are made on the basis of adequate human rights due diligence processes. B. Procurement 82. While the Organization has worked to enhance the accountability of the United Nations system and ensure efficiency and transparency in its procurement practices, it also has a responsibility to ensure that the same practices are not linked to any adverse impact on human rights. 83. Efforts by the Procurement Division to incorporate sustainability into the procurement process have included awareness-raising on the Global Compact principles and the adoption of the non-binding Supplier Code of Conduct. The Code provides the minimum standards expected from vendors when conducting business with the United Nations, including an expectation that vendors respect and support human rights and avoid complicity in human rights abuses.28 84. A revision of the Supplier Code of Conduct to reflect the Guiding Principles would help to clarify that the expectation that suppliers respect human rights implies exercising human rights due diligence and addressing any adverse impact. The same consideration applies to contracts issued by the Office of Legal Affairs for the provision of goods and services to the United Nations, which currently contain references limited to child labour, anti-personnel mines and sexual exploitation. 85. Under the United Nations sustainable public procurement initiative, guidance has been developed for procurers in the organizations of the United Nations system.29 There is further scope for integrating human rights risk management into procurement and appropriate processes for addressing any risks identified. Alignment with the Guiding Principles is also needed in the implementation of the Framework for Advancing Environmental and Social Sustainability recently adopted by the Environment Management Group, which refers to the Guiding Principles as a founding document for social sustainability.30 86. There is also scope for referencing the corporate responsibility to respect human rights at the United Nations Global Marketplace, the website for suppliers to the Organization, and in the registration process for potential vendors to the United Nations via the portal, as well in the regular briefings on the Global Compact in business seminars conducted by the Procurement Division. 87. Like for many large organizations, verifying the conduct of all suppliers may be impracticable. The Organization should nonetheless make concerted efforts to identify general areas where the risk of adverse human rights impact is most significant, and prioritize them for human rights due diligence. It is critical that steps to initiate such a process be taken without delay. 27 28 29 30 16 See www.unpri.org/collaborations/2011-05-20_Investor_statement_Guiding_Principles.pdf. See www.un.org/depts/ptd/pdf/conduct_english.pdf. UNEP, Buying For a Better World, 2011. Available from www.ungm.org/Publications/sp/BFABW_Final_web.pdf. See www.unemg.org/Portals/27/Documents/IMG/Safeguards/launch/SustainabilityFINALweb-.pdf.