Purpose
The initial step in conducting human rights due diligence is for a company to identify and assess any actual or potential negative human rights impacts with which it may be involved. (According to the OECD Due Diligence Guidance on Responsible Business Conduct p.9, this exercise includes the operations of all the entities within an enterprise group, parent and local entities, including subsidiaries.) UNGP 18 makes clear that this process should draw on internal and/or external human rights expertise and involve meaningful consultation with stakeholders:
UNGP 18 Principle
In order to gauge human rights risks, business enterprises should identify and assess any actual or potential adverse human rights impacts with which they may be involved either through their own activities or as a result of their business relationships. This process should:
- draw on internal and/or independent external human rights expertise;
- involve meaningful consultation with potentially affected groups and other relevant stakeholders, as appropriate to the size of the business enterprise and the nature and context of the operation.
Identifying and assessing impacts should be an ongoing process. It is essential to provide a true picture of a company’s human rights risks over time and to translate into practice its responsibility to respect human rights.
Key Actions
UNGP 18 Commentary
According to the Commentary to UNGP 18, the process of assessing actual and potential adverse human rights impacts typically includes:
- assessing and conducting research on the human rights context prior to a proposed business activity, where possible;
- identifying who may be affected, paying particular attention to individuals from populations who may be vulnerable or marginalised and bearing in mind different risks that may be faced by women and men;
- cataloguing the relevant human rights standards and issues identified;
- projecting how the proposed activity and associated business relationships could have adverse human rights impacts on individuals and specific populations.
The following steps guide actions to identify and assess adverse human rights impacts:
