Gender Component of Internal Displacement in Ukraine: A Case of Business (In)Capability to Localize Human Rights Impact Assessment

Human rights due diligence (HRDD) has become the buzzword of much of the advocacy and work today around business and human rights.1 It is almost commonplace that companies have the responsibility to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address these adverse human rights impacts as part of their ongoing HRDD processes, in line with the UNGPs.2 The assessment of human rights impacts (HRIA) is a critical step in this process.3

Corporate Behaviour towards the Upholding of Human Rights – Exploring the Possibilities of Human Rights Impact Assessment in the Sápmi Region

One of the most current challenges the Sami are facing is the rapid expansion of extractive industries throughout the Arctic region, creating obvious conflicts between states and Sámi people. European High North has already proven to be rich in mineral deposits. Furthermore, it is suggested that the world’s largest remaining untapped gas reserves and undeveloped oil reserves are located in the Arctic. Therefore, there is a growing pressure to conduct extractive industrial activities on the territories important for the Sámi, for instance on reindeer herding areas and reindeer migration routes. The expansion of extractive industrial developments causes significant challenges to the enjoyment of their human rights, unless effective procedural measures are in place to mitigate adverse impacts. The aim of this paper is to explore the possibility of integrating human rights impact assessment (HRIA) in existing license granting mechanisms, to examine how particular companies comply with human rights norms applicable to local and indigenous, and to scrutinise the possibility of these and other Northern mining companies to carry out HRIA in the future. The integration of HRIA would ensure that the special status and interests of Sámi people is properly taken into consideration when planning and implementing extractive industrial projects.

The Workers Behind Sweden's Italian Wine: An illustrative Human Rights Impact Assessment of Systembolaget's Italian wine supply chains

This paper reports on an illustrative human rights impact assessment (HRIA) of the Italian wine supply chains of Systembolaget, the Swedish monopoly alcohol retailer. The HRIA aimed to evaluate the actual and potential human rights impacts at the production stage of the value chain in Italy, to identify their root causes, and to provide recommendations to relevant stakeholders concerning their prevention, mitigation and/or remediation. The assessment took just over a year and consisted of five phases of analysis using a methodology aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). However, the onset of Italy’s severe first wave of coronavirus in 2020 meant that the assessment team was unable to conduct the field study phase with the full rigour required of an HRIA. The field phase started in September 2019, with an initial assessment phase based on a literature review and a round of stakeholder interviews from September 2019 to March 2020. Further, limited, worker interviews were conducted from October 2020 to January 2021. The result is an illustration of the human rights risks that are present in the areas of Italy from which Systembolaget sources its wine.

Applying the Human Rights Framework to Economic Policy: Insights from an Impact Assessment of Services Trade Liberalisation in Mauritius

This article sets out the methodology and findings of a Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) of the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) for Mauritius. It presents analysis of possible impacts of services trade liberalisation and deregulation on the right to water, on labour rights and on labour migration. By examining impacts of trade-related policies through the lens of human rights law, this article brings to the fore how an HRIA can strengthen trade policy-making, and how it can provide African negotiators and other stakeholders with legal and conceptual arguments to strengthen their positions in economic negotiating contexts that are often highly complex. The article is a contribution to the literature in that it provides insights into the underexplored area of human rights impacts of liberalisation of trade in services, and in that it illustrates through specific examples how the human rights analytical framework can be applied to services trade negotiations in other fora, and to economic policy more broadly.