Incorporating human rights into the corporate domain: due diligence, impact assessment and integrated risk management

Human rights and impact assessment: clarifying the connections in practice

“…BHP Billiton 2012). Some practitioners describe dedicated HRIAs as 'drawing on' SIA (Hunt & MacNaughton 2011), whereas others position HRIA as 'distinct from' SIA (Graetz & Franks 2013). Clearly, there are different interpretations on the point of whether HRIA is related to, or indeed an extension of, SIA or other forms of impact assessment (Kemp et al 2010a).…”

Uranium mining and First Peoples: the nuclear renaissance confronts historical legacies

“…This paper elaborates on Graetz and Manning's finding, and suggests that First Peoples' experiences of social risks-defined here as potential unwanted social impacts that either are experienced or perceived (Graetz and Franks, 2013)-provides the grounds for such opposition, which, in turn, can transmute into business risks for uranium companies. Understanding social risk, then, is key to (1) minimising business risks and (2) to addressing future barriers to nuclear fuel supply.…”

“…First Nations' rights to control access to these lands, such as the right of free, prior and informed consent, and to receive benefits in return for access, increasingly are being recognised in domestic and international law (Graetz and Franks, 2013;O'Faircheallaigh, 2013). However, industry participants have been criticised for being slow to recognise these rights, and in the past have been accused of rights violations (Katona, 2001;Marsh, 2010).…”

“…Third, such opposition can escalate from the local to the national or international level, drawing in other actors and stakeholders, potentially occasioning political and business risks for mining companies. Fourth, given that the right of First Peoples to control access to their lands increasingly is being recognised both in international and domestic law and jurisprudence (Graetz and Franks, 2013), failure to understand and address First Peoples' opposition to uranium developments could affect the development of new uranium projects and, thus, the supply of nuclear fuel.…”

Towards best practice jobs decision-making: institutionalising fuller consideration of the social context in resource projects

“…The adoption and implementation of industrial relations policies and compliance with host country accords as a minimum are examples (Montgomery and Maggio 2009). Areas of human rights that intersect with jobs decision-making include freedom of association and collective bargaining and the equivalency of pay and conditions, labour codes, anti-discrimination and equal employment opportunity, cultural protocols, child labour, bonded and indentured labour and gender equality (Graetz and Franks 2013). When implementing a human-rights-based approach in the workforce, companies need to be cognisant of the intersection with local cultural and country protocols and consider how areas of potential conflict should be sensitively managed.…”