Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIAs) are an important strategy for companies to accomplish this due diligence, and for stakeholders to monitor a company’s performance. This Guide to HRIA Tools aims to assist business managers of (multinational) corporations and their stakeholders to find their way in the world of Human Rights Impact Assessments. It helps to select the best tool(s) to assure the best HRIA process for the project.


This first chapter introduces the theory and history of the HRIAs. The second chapter gives a summary of all the HRIA tools that have been developed to assess the impact of business on human rights. The third chapter maps these HRIA initiatives in order to facilitate the selection of an HRIA tool,
while chapter four provides an overview of when and how these tools can best be used.

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1.1 The business case for HRIA
Since the 1960’s, globalisation has reached proportions never equalled in history. In addition to the number of multinational enterprises increasing a thousand fold, the interdependence between companies and institutions worldwide has grown enormously. Nowadays, a Dutch company may have suppliers in Vietnam; Chinese companies may obtain raw materials from Tanzania; and a Canadian financial institution may invest in a company in Brazil.

With this outburst of globalisation, the impact of multinational enterprises on communities worldwide has increased substantially. The international and national protection of human right has not kept pace, however. Human rights violations as a consequence of activities by multinational enterprises are widespread.

In the field of human rights and business, states have a duty to protect human rights including providing access to justice for victims of violations. Companies themselves have the responsibility to respect human rights within their sphere of influence. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) demands that companies consider the (potential) negative and positive implications of their activities on the human rights of stakeholders, including employees, shareholders, customers and communities in all aspects of operations. This applies to an extent that goes beyond ordinary statutory obligations. It requires a due diligence process, which guides companies in becoming aware of, preventing and managing human rights impacts within their sphere of influence.

The main objective of conducting a Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) is to identify, understand and manage corporate impacts in the field of human rights. An HRIA helps a company to gain a thorough understanding of the (potential) impact of corporate activities, a better understanding of the stakeholders perspectives, and ways to manage corporate impacts in a process that benefits all involved.

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