The International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) and the International Finance Cooperation (IFC), in close collaboration with the UN Global Compact, have developed a Guide to Human Rights Assessment and Management. On the 25^th of June 2010 they launched the revised version of the guide.

The Guide provides a toolkit that business managers can use to identify, assess and implement responses to human rights challenges in new or evolving business projects. It is a practical tool to bring human rights impact assessment into core business planning and management processes. 

Developed for companies committed to assessing and managing the human rights risks and impacts of their business activities, the Guide to HRIAM provides guidance on how to:

·         Identify any potential and/or existing human rights risks
·         Assess any potential and/or existing human rights impacts
·         Integrate findings from the assessment into the company management system

The revised Guide to HRIAM process is divided into seven stages: Preparation, Identification, Engagement, Assessment, Mitigation, Management, Evaluation. By following and adapting the Guide to HRIAM’s seven stage process, and completing a human rights impact assessment, a company will be in a better position to address any potential and/or existing human rights risks and impacts.

The online Guide contains a number of new features, including:

• Human Rights scenarios written for 12 industry sectors
• Human Rights Identification tool
• Human Rights Due Diligence Mapping tool
• Other human rights tools to assist the assessment, mitigation and management stages.

The Eight Step Approach is a comprehensive HRIA framework that provides a cyclic approach to policy development and project management. This toolset covers the following steps:

STEP 1: Assessment of the Actual Human Rights Situation

STEP 2: Political Contextual Analysis

STEP 7: Monitoring

STEP 8: Evaluation