Brief 3: Conducting Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence assessments
COMPANIES
Brief 3: Conducting Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence assessments
Overview
This Brief provides an overview of how to undertake key elements of heightened human rights due diligence (hHRDD). hHRDD is a standard of responsible practice for companies that operate or have value chains in conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRAs); it may become a legal expectation for companies that fall under the mandate of the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.
A brief of this length on hHRDD is necessarily highly simplified. More expansive descriptions of hHRDD as a practice may be found in a report issued in 2020 by the UN Working Group on business and human rights (UNWG) and in a Guide published jointly in 2023 by the UNWG and the UN Development Programme.
This brief is based on experience performing hHRDD and, in particular, applying TrustWorks’ integrated framework for responsible business (the Responsible Business in Conflict Assessment methodology), which includes International Humanitarian Law-related considerations, as well as conflict and human rights impacts through the lens of hHRDD and conflict-sensitivity.
Steps of hHRDD
Heightened human rights due diligence is a stepwise process of analysis, action planning, implementation, and disclosure that aims to address adverse impacts that a company might have upon human rights and conflict in operational contexts and throughout value chains. hHRDD includes human rights due diligence (HRDD) as a subset of its processes. hHRDD goes well beyond HRDD, however, in several ways that will become clear in this brief. The brief assumes the reader is familiar with HRDD and, therefore, does not offer guidance on HRDD; it focuses in particular on the conflict-focused elements of hHRDD and on the field-level activities that are essential to performing hHRDD.
About this series
The Responsible business in conflict-affected areas series, led by TrustWorks, provides timely insights to questions raised by our company clients and partners; the briefs are designed to support company representatives navigate the responsible business in conflict agenda. This is the third brief in the series.
The brief is structured to cater for both busy and avid readers: on the left hand column, busy readers can skim through the main messages of the brief. Avid readers, with a bit more time on their hands, can read the right-hand side for a more in-depth understanding of the issues at hand.
