Human Rights and Impact Assessment: Conceptual and Practical Considerations in the Private Sector Context

Abstract

This paper discusses some of the conceptual and practical considerations encountered by human rights and impact assessment practitioners in the emerging field of human rights impact assessment. The paper focuses on impact assessments commissioned by and conducted for private sector projects. With increased attention being given to the accountability of businesses for their human rights impacts over the last few years, human rights impact assessment has gained traction as one tool available to the private sector, non-government organisations (NGOs), governments and other stakeholders, to assess and evaluate the impacts of business activities on the human rights enjoyment of workers and host-communities. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UN Guiding Principles) have been one key driver for this increased focus on the assessment of human rights impacts. Drawing on the UN Guiding Principles in combination with the emerging literature and practice in the area of human rights impact assessment, as well as guidance and experiences from the areas of social impact assessment and the human rights-based approach, a number of aspects can be identified as key for the assessment of human rights impacts: (1) Applying international human rights standards – as the benchmark for the assessment, to guide impact identification, evaluation of severity, mitigation and remedy; (2) Addressing the full scope of impacts – including both actual and potential impacts that are caused by the business, impacts that the business contributes to and impacts directly linked through operations, products and services; (3) Adopting a human rights-based process – emphasising the principles of participation and inclusion, equality and non-discrimination, and accountability and transparency; (4) Ensuring accountability – identifying rights-holders and duty-bearers, assigning responsibilities and adequate resources for impact assessment, including a focus on access to remedy, and making adequate provisions for reporting; and (5) Evaluating impact severity and addressing impacts – making sure that evaluation of impact severity is guided by human rights considerations and that all identified human rights impacts are effectively addressed. The paper addresses each of these five criteria in turn, outlining some of the conceptual and practical considerations related to each. It is not intended to provide definitive solutions but rather, to provide food for thought for those working in the area of business and human rights, in particular practitioners engaged in the developing practice of assessing human rights impacts of private sector projects, with the view of challenging and improving our practice.