University of Groningen
Business and human rights
van der Ploeg, Emma Lidewij
IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below.
Document Version
Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record
Publication date: 2018
Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database
Citation for published version (APA):
van der Ploeg, E. L. (2018). Business and human rights: addressing the challenges of respecting, protecting and fulfilling the human rights of project-affected peoples. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.
Copyright
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).
Take-down policy
If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.
Business and Human Rights
Addressing the challenges of respecting, protecting and
fulfilling the human rights of project-affected peoples
Lidewij van der Ploeg
• The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is likely to contribute to higher levels of awareness within corporations of the negative impacts of business activities on communities.
• Despite the significance of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, it is likely that there will be more box-ticking activities being undertaken, and that this will not necessarily result in actual improvement in the management of human rights impacts at the project level, or in the experiences of local communities affected by projects.
• The effectiveness by which social and human rights issues are addressed is highly dependent upon the experience, skills and integrity of the individual managers and other staff in companies.
• There is a mismatch between the goals of economic development and the goals within the international human rights standards. This mismatch is institutionally embedded and undermines the achievement of sustainable development outcomes.
• Environmental and social impact assessment specialists who apply human rights in their assessments will gradually increase the human rights awareness of all actors in the locations of project development, including project developers, government staff and other parties.
• Human rights impact assessment specialists who are involved in project approval processes should become more aware of project realities, and should better understand the practical challenges of implementing a human rights based approach.
• Where social and environmental impact assessments include human rights experts and result in social or environmental impacts being flagged as potential human rights violations, this will increase the attention given to these issues.
• In the context of project-induced displacement and resettlement, corporate practice that is aligned with a human rights based approach will improve the adequacy of compensation and the outcomes of livelihood restoration activities for affected peoples, and especially vulnerable groups.
• The way affected people are treated by company staff, and the extent to which affected peoples are able to participate in the assessment, negotiation and compensation procedures, is fundamental for the restoration of their livelihoods.
• Given that project-induced displacement and resettlement is inherently harmful, a genuine commitment to implementing a human rights based approach requires a change to the current development paradigm.
