The role of DEI in Human Rights Impact Assessments
Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIAs) are an essential tool for companies to identify and address the impacts linked to a specific high-risk project, operation, product or raw material.
In line with international best practice and our well-established assessment methodology, GoodCorporation’s HRIAs rely extensively on stakeholder engagement. The perceptions of rights-holders and potentially affected stakeholders are gathered by our human rights consultants to identify any potential or actual adverse human rights impacts and to design suitable mitigation and remediation measures.
Ensuring that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is taken into account when selecting HRIA participants and designing mitigation and remediation measures is essential to this process, as it ensures that the perspectives and needs of all communities, including marginalised or disadvantaged groups and individuals, are properly considered. By integrating DEI into HRIAs, organisations can better identify potential and actual impacts and develop fairer strategies to support human rights fully.
Five key takeways on DEI from our HRIAs:
1. Importance of local perspectives: Direct engagement with rights-holders and local communities often highlights specific cultural and social nuances that influence how diversity is expressed, perceived, and managed within these groups. These context-specific diversity dynamics play a key role in shaping behaviour, relationships and societal structures over time. It is crucial therefore to take account of the local context when developing or adapting DEI strategies, rather than simply applying universal standards.
For example, when implementing intervention measures, we might recommend conducting a gender analysis before deciding on the actions neede to gain insight into the community’s structures and power dynamics. Such an approach ensures that DEI measures are considered and developed in a way that benefits those in the communities who are made most vulnerable to adverse human rights impacts. Additionally, engaging with local civil society organizations (CSOs) can provide a deeper understanding of the local context and helps develop mitigation measures that are effective in the specific context.
2. Enhancing women’s economic empowerment: Increasing women’s access to financial resources and economic opportunities not only improves their individual wellbeing, but also contributes to the resilience and prosperity of communities as a whole. This has been highlighted again and again in our HRIAs.
Organisations can play a key role in reducing inequalities between men and women by offering skills development programs, including skills like sewing and entrepreneurship. In societies where it is difficult for women to leave the home and enter the formal market, organisations can also help women to carry out tasks at home, such as pickling, herb and fruit drying. They can also help women to improve their financial literacy, for example by teaching them how to manage their accounts and budgets or how to open a bank account. Giving women access to additional sources of finance through income-generating activities and microfinancing opportunities, among other initiatives, is not only a way to address gender inequalities and financial dependence but also a crucial step in reducing their vulnerability to gender-based violence and empowering them to leave situations of domestic abuse.
3. Fostering equal pay and fair remuneration practices: Ensuring equal pay for men and women for work of a similar nature is a key step in fostering gender equality and socio-economic wellbeing of communities. A barrier to equal pay we often encounter in our HRIAs is the perception that the tasks done by women are easier (less physically demanding) and therefore should have a lower remuneration level. However, many tasks performed by women are highly labour intensive, similar in nature and in fact not ‘easier’ or less time consuming than those performed by men. In addition, women often carry the majority of the unpaid domestic labour. Awareness raising on the value of work (paid and unpaid) performed by women is an important part of changing these perceptions.
Fair remuneration practices are vital to ensuring gender equality. For instance, in sectors such as agriculture, encouraging the practice of directly paying women for their work, rather than paying their husbands, helps to foster women’s financial autonomy and improves their ability to make decisions with the money they earn.
4. Addressing vulnerabilities in the workforce: Certain groups are more susceptible to human rights impacts under certain working conditions. For instance, elderly workers, who may harvest crops more slowly, earn less when paid on a piece-rate basis than non-elderly workers and are therefore more exposed to non-decent pay levels. Local communities may face discrimination based on work and descent, confining them to hazardous and low-paid jobs, making them more vulnerable to exploitation, poor wages and unsafe working conditions. Pregnant women often lack access to maternity leave, working the same hours as others, sometimes up until the last day of pregnancy, which exposes them and their unborn child to health risks. New mothers may be required to breastfeed while standing and lack a dedicated space for this, which can be unhygienic for the child and also expose the mother to the risk of infection. Female migrant or seasonal workers often lack access to contraception, leading to unplanned pregnancies and in some cases, the necessity to bring their children to work, which limits the children’s access to education as well as exposing them to health and safety risks.
Designing inclusive measures to address these vulnerabilities in the workforce is essential to provide adequate support for rights-holders. Adapting piece-rate remuneration to take into account elderly workers and others who may face challenges with speed-dependent tasks is necessary to help reduce income disparities and support economic security for vulnerable groups. Ensuring written contracts or a written document which guarantees the same rights for all workers, including fair remuneration and rest periods, is essential to reduce the discrimination suffered by certain communities and empower everyone to know their rights. . Best practice would also be to establish designated breastfeeding areas and provide flexible schedules for new mothers to support a healthier work-life balance, while compensating them for this loss of earnings.
5. Strengthening inclusion through awareness-raising: The HRIAs have demonstrated that regular awareness-raising and targeted training for both internal employees and external stakeholders, such as suppliers, community leaders, and rights-holders, are crucial for fostering a more inclusive working environment. These efforts not only increase understanding of human rights principles but also help stakeholders recognise and address biases, unequal treatment, and other factors that may hinder inclusion. By embedding this awareness into daily operations and relationships, organisations can build a workplace culture that actively respects and protects the human rights of all individuals.
GoodCorporation DEI and HRIA Services
With over 20 years of experience, GoodCorporation has honed a comprehensive approach to assisting companies in implementing gender-inclusive human rights strategies, policies and processes. Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Framework is central to this effort. In addition to aiding the implementation of gender-based human rights within organisations, this framework also supports the development of management policies, strategies, and processes applicable to all protected characteristics, including race, ethnicity and social origin, acting as a one-stop-shop for companies looking to implement DEI related responsible management practices.
Furthermore, our various frameworks on human rights provide companies with a robust starting point when seeking to develop, embed or assess their approach to the vital topic of DEI. In line with international best practices and our well-established assessment methodology, GoodCorporation’s HRIAs rely extensively on stakeholder engagement. The perceptions of rights-holders or potentially affected stakeholders such as workers, human rights defenders and communities, and other relevant stakeholders, such as civil society organisations and government agencies where relevant, are collected by our human rights consultants to identify any potential or actual adverse human rights impacts and to design suitable remediation measures. Our work focuses on vulnerable groups, including migrant workers, women, children, ethnic minorities, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community depending on the context of operations, and always takes DEI into account.
Get in touch to find out more about our approach and learn how we can support your organisation with DEI and human rights today.