Guide to Human Rights Impact Assessment and Management

2 August 2007

Road-Testing Draft, June 2007

IBLF and the International Finance Corporation, in close collaboration with the UN Global Compact, have produced a comprehensive toolkit that business managers can use to identify, assess and implement responses to human rights challenges in new or evolving business projects.

This tool is designed to help companies understand in a proactive rather then reactive way where potential human rights challenges may lie in their evolving or future business projects, so that they can manage these risks and mitigate or eliminate them before they become a problem.

The Guide released today is a work in progress and is to be tested over the next two years to ensure that it is as practical and user-friendly as possible.

The Guide introduces an eight step process through which business managers and their colleagues can oversee the identification, assessment and implementation of measures that will strengthen their company's contribution to human rights protection:

Step One: Determine whether a full human rights impact assessment is needed

Step Two: Identify and clarify the business project context

Step Three: Set the baseline: articulate the local picture and conditions

Step Four: Consult with Stakeholders to verify the human rights challenges

Step Five: Assess the human rights impacts and consequences

Step Six: Present the assessment findings and recommendations to management

Step Seven: Implement a human rights management process

Step Eight: Monitor, Evaluate and Report on the Management Process

The Guide has been designed for application in any business sector, and to test this we are currently seeking companies from a cross-section of business sectors, including:

• Extractive - Oil, Gas & Mining
• Pharmaceutical & Chemical
• Construction & Infrastructure
• Technology - Hardware, Software and Telecommunications
• Food & Beverage
• Retail - Garment, Footwear, Homeware, Toys, etc.
• Transport - Air, Land & Sea, including manufacturing
• Tourism
• Banking & Business Services
• Agribusiness

If you would like to get involved in this project, contact Desiree Abrahams on firstname.surname@iblf.org or dial +44 (0)20 7467 3608.

Related links
More about IBLF's work in human rights

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