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Human Rights Toolkit
"There is growing agreement that the private sector should do its part to help ensure respect for human rights around the world. No one denies that the activities of business help provide the enabling environment needed for the enjoyment of human rights. At the same time, it is clear that company operations can have serious negative impacts on the protection of human rights when not carried out in a responsible manner. More and more business leaders from the global north and south are showing that they are ready to take on their appropriate role in promoting and protecting human rights and a growing number of leading companies are committed to using a human rights framework to help shape more principled and profitable corporate performance. Progress is being made in the areas of human rights impact assessments and in the production of guidance and tools for business to use in managing human rights risks. The UNEP Finance Initiative is at the leading edge of these developments among business sectors."
Mary Robinson, Chair, Realizing Rights - Ethical Globalization Initiative Former President of Ireland, Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights The UNEP FI Human Rights Guidance Tool for the Finance Sector is designed as an online signposting tool providing information to lenders on human rights risks. Included in the tool you will find:
While the tool focuses specifically on human rights issues relevant to the assessment of business relationships and transactions, links are also provided within each sector briefing to the broader environmental and social risk guidance also provided on the UNEP FI member extranet. Together these form part of the growing array of tools and guidance available to members. The Human Rights Tool has been reviewed by the UNEP FI Regional Task Forces and consultation with them will continue. A legal review was provided by Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP and the project was advised by the human rights consultancy TwentyFifty. Launched in October 2007, the tool will be available as a pilot for six months before being refined further. Feedback will be sought from financial institutions using the tool and the broader stakeholder community, including industry groups and NGOs. We hope that this tool will provide a useful resource for financial sector professionals, and will assist you in incorporating human rights issues, not only into risk assessments, but also into other aspects of your organisation, for example in screening suppliers, or addressing labour relations in the workforce. This toolkit provides a framework for lending managers to:
Financial institutions will want to use the tool to assess the human rights issues in their own business and its supply chain. |
