Security and Human Rights Training: One Company's Central African Experience

Abstract

Abstract Oil companies with global operations typically embrace a range of codes endorsing the inherent value of human rights. These include the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN Global Compact and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. Global oil companies also frequently work in frontier areas that may have past histories of alleged human rights abuses. Successful management at the local operations level can be critical to meeting the potential human rights challenges posed in many increasingly important petroleum producing areas of the world. This paper relates the steps taken to educate key company and contract employees regarding the fundamental value of human rights, as well as their responsibilities to ensure compliance with company codes, accepted principles and laws that pertain to human rights and security provisions for operations in Central Africa. The paper will outline the broad scope of the detailed training program developed in association with implementing participation in the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights: ▪Commitment to company codes and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR);▪Commitment to the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (Voluntary Principles);▪Overview of the Voluntary Principles, including participants, components, best practices and value of open dialog;▪Framework for Voluntary Principles implementation, emphasizing risk assessment; and▪Group work on a case study/scenario. Results from the training sessions conducted in 2006 and 2007 will be summarized. The benefits of interactions with government representatives and government security officials will also be highlighted. In addition, specific examples based on actual occurrences will illustrate how training on human rights principles and maintaining local awareness can help achieve improved human rights in frontier areas.