Introduction to Human Rights Impact Assessment

There is a difference between having rights and enjoying those rights. In most countries there is still a big gap between human rights in theory and in practice. A Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) is a process to measure the gap between the commitments made by a state (human rights in theory) and the actual ability of individuals, groups and communities in a country to enjoy these rights (human rights in practice).

HRIA provides an entry point for the accountability of human rights policies and practices and facilitates democratic monitoring. It provides (intergovernmental) organisations, governments and companies with instruments to better focus their human rights efforts; and it can be used as an analytical and lobbying tool by activists and NGOs.

An impact assessment can be done before the activity takes place (ex ante), or after the activity has taken place (ex post). HRIAs are implemented using tools or instruments that are designed for a specific context or policy area. They can look at one specific step of a HRIA or they can be broad frameworks.