Barbara Strozzilaan 336
1083 HN Amsterdam
The Netherlands
gssbsecretariat@globalreporting.org

Item 03 – GRI Topic Standards Project for
Human Rights – Proposed member fortechnical committee
For GSSB approval
Date

1 September 2020

Meeting

15 September 2020

Project

GRI Topic Standards Project for Human Rights

Description This paper proposes a new member for the GRI Technical Committee on
Human Rights Disclosure, for GSSB approval.

This document has been prepared by the GRI Standards Division. It is provided as a convenience toobservers at meetings of the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), to assist them infollowing the Board’s discussion. It does not represent an official position of the GSSB. Board
positions are set out in the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards. The GSSB is the independent
standard setting body of GRI. For more information visit www.globalreporting.org.
© GRI 2020

1Background

23In 2017, the GSSB approved the membership of the Technical Committee on Human Rights
Disclosure.

45
6Since then, technical committee member Peter Hall has left the International Organisation ofEmployers (IOE) and taken up a new position as Senior Manager – Human Rights & Sustainability
Compliance at Johnson & Johnson.

7891011While Peter Hall will continue to participate in the Human Rights Technical Committee, theStandards Division proposes the addition of new representative from the International Organisationof Employers (IOE) to the Human Rights Technical Committee. This will ensure continuity inperspective and will increase business representation within the committee, thus addressing previousGSSB concerns regarding limited business constituency representation within the committee.

121314The upcoming work of the committee will focus on reviewing and responding to significantcomments raised during the public comment period held from 11 June to 9 September 2020, on theproposed human rights-related revisions to the Universal Standards.

15
16This paper details the proposed replacement from the International Organisation of Employers (IOE)
to join the Human Rights Technical Committee, for GSSB approval.

Proposed member for the Human Rights
18
Technical Committee
1719
20
21
22

The Standards Division proposes Matthias Thorns, Deputy Secretary-General at the International
Organisation of Employers (IOE), for the Human Rights Technical Committee. Matthias Thorns
meets the selection criteria outlined in the terms of reference for this committee. His bio ispresented below for GSSB consideration.
Candidate: Matthias Thorns
Job title:
Deputy Secretary-General

Organization:
International Organisation ofEmployers (IOE)
Constituency:
Business

Bio:
As Deputy Secretary-General, Matthias Thorns has part in the overall
responsibility for the management of the IOE Secretariat in its work tosupport the global business community in its representation vis-a-vis theUN institutions, as well as G20, G7, and other international initiatives.
Matthias’s career began as Adviser for Social Affairs in the EuropeanBusiness Federation UNICE (now BusinessEurope). He then moved tothe Confederation of German Employers as Adviser and later as Deputy
Director of the International and European Affairs Department, looking
after European and International Social Policy, CSR and Human Rights,
as well as OECD Employment, Labour and Social Affairs matters.

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Region:Switzerland (Europe)

After leaving the Confederation of German Employers in 2012, Matthias
joined the IOE as Senior Adviser, leading the work on Human Rights,
G20 and G7, Global Supply Chains, as well as SMEs.
In 2017 Matthias joined the Workplace Rights team of The Coca-Cola
Company as Human Rights and Workplace Rights Manager, where hewas, among other things, responsible for planning, coordinating, anddrafting of the first stand-alone Human Rights Report of The Coca-Cola
Company, the Human Rights training for bottling partners, as well as theroll-out of the revised human rights policy of The Coca-Cola Companyacross regions.
In 2018 he was appointed IOE Director of Stakeholder Engagement anda year later IOE Deputy Secretary-General. In these positions, Matthias
oversees the IOE work related to G20 and G7, Human Rights, Agenda
2030, Migration, and programs under the EU Framework Agreement.
He also has a particular responsibility for the IOE company networks:
the Global Industrial Relations Network, the Global Occupational Safetyand Health Network, as well as the Corporate Partner Initiative.
Matthias is Member of the Governance Committee of the Centre forSports and Human Rights, Member of the UN Global Compact Expert
Network, Co-Chair of the ILO Child Labour Platform, and Member of
the Global Coordination Group Alliance 8.7.
Matthias holds a Master of Arts in European Studies from the Universityof Hannover and a Magister Artium in History and Philosophy from theUniversity of Hannover.
Matthias was a participant in the CGF “Future Leaders Programme” in2018, and in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of theU.S. Department of State in July 2012.

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