To assess the quality of HRIA, Oxfam developed a Human Rights Impact Assessment Framework clarifying the key criteria (both process and content) needed to ensure the HRIA is robust. The framework also provides guidance and best practices. The key criteria cover the following categories:
Given the commitments to conduct HRIAs made by several retailers in the food sector (including several in the seafood sector), Oxfam undertook an analysis of the HRIAs and published a report, Towards Meaningful Human Rights Impact Assessments, identifying best practice efforts and points of improvements based on the HRIA Assessment Framework. The key recommendations include:
As mandatory HREDD legislation becomes more prevalent, there are increasingly legal reasons to carry out HRIAs. However, there are additionally clear benefits to businesses as well. As Oxfam notes, ‘By documenting the identified impacts and corresponding actions taken to address them, an HRIA enhances businesses’ accountability. It provides a transparent record of the steps taken to mitigate adverse effects and demonstrates the company’s commitment to respecting human rights. HRIAs also encourage the formation of partnerships between businesses and other stakeholders to develop joint actions to address cumulative impacts or legacy issues that require collective efforts. The knowledge and insights gained from the assessment can also inform and improve HREDD processes, purchasing practices and other activities.’
Specific benefits to businesses include:
While standard HRIAs are the tools most commonly used to conduct indepth assessments of human rights impacts, a number of companies have explored other approaches.
Joint HRIAs: Many companies share supply chains and/or sourcing regions, making joint HRIAs a promising strategy. By pooling resources and expertise, two or more companies can share the costs and collaborate on solutions to address human rights issues. While joint HRIAs may vary in form, their content and methodology do not differ significantly from a standard HRIA. The key distinction lies in the shared responsibility and coordination, and the pooling of resources. In addition, by proposing joint actions, companies can significantly enhance their leverage for effective solutions. However, it is important to remember that a joint HRIA must still include an analysis of each company’s individual impacts.
Sector-wide impact assessment: Another scenario in which companies can collaborate is through a sector-wide impact assessment (SWIA). As with a joint HRIA, this approach allows multiple companies to join forces and assess the impacts of their sector on a broad scale. A SWIA typically emphasizes the collective responsibility of all industry actors, and encourages broad-based solutions. However, since SWIAs generally do not provide a company specific analysis of its policies and practices, they do not offer tailored recommendations. In such cases, companies should also distill their individual contributions to the identified impact, and adapt the sector-level conclusions and recommendations to their own specific circumstances
Rapid assessments: Given that a standard HRIA can take up to a year to complete, some companies are turning to rapid assessment as a faster alternative. These are particularly useful in situations requiring immediate information or when there is already a well-documented understanding of human rights issues in a specific supply chain or region. The emphasis should be on validating and prioritizing the most critical issues and taking decisive action. From there, companies should allocate resources to implement an action plan that effectively addresses these known issues.
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