Vanguard funds pushes human-rights standards

Socially responsible investing gained a mammoth ally in the form of Vanguard Group.

The nation's largest manager of stock and bond mutual funds filed notice this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has introduced criteria to determine whether companies meet human-right standards.

The policy is designed to identify companies whose "direct involvement in crimes against humanity or patters of egregious abuses of human rights would warrant engagement of potential divestment."

Other fund companies, including Fidelity and T. Rowe Price, have considered similar plans.

Organizations, such as Investors Against Genocide, have been pressuring fund companies to adopt socially responsible codes of investing.