our work on human rights
Due Diligence for positive impact
We believe in the potential of all employees to create knowledge and implement good practices in the business and human rights field.
Our clients are businesses from different sectors such as finance, extractive industry, agriculture, automotive, textile, telecommunications and security, among others. They all operate in different regions and countries with different levels of risks and impacts. In order to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their adverse human rights impacts, BHR helps businesses carry out human rights due diligence that assesses actual and potential human rights impacts.
We bring a human rights strategy and management system that fits in all companies, regardless of their size, sector, country of operations or maturity level with regards to human rights and is tailored to the company’s needs and business strategy.
Learn more about our methodology and tools.
WE COVER ALL PHASES OF A DUE DILIGENCE PROCESS
Human Rights CORPORATE
STRATEGY AND Policies
We design, update and accompany the implementation of corporate human rights strategies and policies. We elaborate robust policies that reflect international human rights standards.
We help organizations improve their human rights impacts by designing a human rights policy as well as specific policies regarding providers or the responsible use ot technologies.
human rights management and governance systems
We design smart management solutions as well as robust governance systems that ensure the integration of human rights standards into core business functions and decision-making, as far as possible, building on the existing company’s management systems at country, corporate and operational levels.
Rights-Respecting Corporate Culture: We can help companies build cultures of integrity beyond compliance, by facilitating the integration of norms and shared values that underpin business respect for human rights.
NATIONAL ACTION PLANS (NAPs) AND strATEGIES
BHR provided its technical assistance to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the drafting of the National Plan of Action (NAP) on Business and Human Rights, approved by the Ministries Council in July 2017. We have also supported the Government of Catalunya in the development of its Strategy on Business and Human Rights.
Projects
COUNTRY RISK AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT AT both CORPORATE AND OPERATIONAL LEVELS
We help organizations identify their human rights negative impacts both at the corporate as well as at the operational level. We can do it for you or train your local and operational teams it according to the UNGP framework and our methodology.
BHR also assesses the risk of human rights abuses in a particular context, country or region by means of its BHR HUMAN RIGHTS INDEX. This index provides specific data and information related to specific companies activities.
We also accurately analyse the future trends in the markets to anticipate potential negative impacts in the mid-term.
Learn more about our methodologies and tools.
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
We develop supply chain management policies and procedures based on tailored risks assessments. We enable dialogue and build capacities for suppliers and contractors.
We help our clients improve their working conditions' compliance according to recognized international standards. Where business enterprises have large numbers of entities in their value chains, we identify general areas where the risk of adverse human rights impacts is most significant, whether due to certain suppliers’ or clients’ operating context, the particular operations, products or services involved, or other relevant considerations, and prioritize these for human rights due diligence.
We work with forward-thinking companies to mature their supply chain management to ensure fair working conditions to all supply chain workers, and with supply chain, sourcing, and procurement functions to develop supply chains that deliver business value and are inclusive, resilient and transparent, creating long-term benefit for all involved stakeholders.
Our team of experts works proactively with companies to envision the supply chains of tomorrow and to encourage sustainable, resilient and fair supply chains
Drawing upon our deep experience across multiple industries and regions, we help companies develop strategic approaches, operationalize sustainable procurement, engage with suppliers, govern lower-tier suppliers and the riskiest members of a supply chain and build meaningful collaborations with key local stakeholders.
- SUPPLY CHAIN COUNTRY RISK ASSESSMENT
- SUPPLY CHAIN SECTOR RISK ASSESSMENT
- SUPPLIERS/INTERMEDIARIES RISK ASSESSMENT
- SUPPLIER CAPACITY BUILDING
- REVIEW OF CORPORATE POLICIES AND PURCHASE PRACTICES
- COMPANY TEAMS CAPACITY BUILDING
- ASSESMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF GRIEVANCE MECHANISMS
- IDENTIFICATION OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUPPLY CHAIN INNOVATION
We have provided our services to the Ethical Training Initiative (ETI) and the Fair Labor Association (FLA) in the assessment of supply chain context and management in the agriculture sector.
REMEDy
We design and implement grievance mechanisms for our clients that help them ensure an effective remediation according to the UNGPs.
We also update existing corporate grievance mechanisms to ensure they are aligned with the UNGP's effectiveness criteria: legitimate, accessible, predictable, equitable, transparent, rights-compatible, source of continuous learning and be based on engagement and dialogue.
Based on dialogue with all stakeholders, a grievance mechanism can only serve its purpose if the people it is intended to serve know about it, trust it and are able to use it. These criteria provide us with a benchmark for designing grievance mechanisms and ensure that they are effective in practice.
BHR can also act as a technical and independent Secretariat when holding Ethics or Sustainability Committees meetings.
Stakeholders CO-CREATION SYSTEM
Through co-creation we facilitate strategic solutions in collaboration with key stakeholders. In order to gauge human rights risks, businesses must involve meaningful consultation with potentially affected groups and other relevant stakeholders, as appropriate to the nature and context of operation of the business. To enable businesses to assess their human rights impacts accurately, we help our clients to better understand the concerns of potentially affected stakeholders through consultations and other means.
We facilitate multistakeholder processes and community engagements to better understand root causes and foster collective, genuine and forward-thinking solutions.
BHR has been in charge of the national consultation process for the drafting of the Spanish NAP as well as the Strategy on Business and Human Rights of the Government of Catalunya.
NON-FINANCIAL REPORTING
We design reporting strategies for companies, enabling them to apply reporting frameworks, communicate meaningful human rights outcomes and impacts to key stakeholders, and use reporting as a tool to improve ESG performance and attract long term investment.
We can help companies think in fresh ways about who their stakeholders are and how to include them in understanding impacts and managing sustainable change.
TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
We advise companies on a raft of new ethics and transparency challenges and help build organizational cultures where integrity, legal compliance and sustainability are core considerations when implementing new technologies.
ADAPTIVE training and capacity building
Every person and organization needs a specific type of training that suits its specific needs and challenges. BHR offers a training service based on the concept of adaptive learning: the training is based upon the needs of the organizations. We design and carry out practical, technical and legal trainings addressing all company levels. Our objective is to improve the understanding and build the capacities needed to enable positive change. We help employees create knowledge and develop their own human rights based solutions. Capacity-building and awareness-raising play a vital role in helping businesses fulfill their duty to respect human rights.
We have established a collaboration agreement with the United Nations Global Compact Spanish Local Network in view to provide especialised capacity building and learning units to its members.
Our work helps to make more responsible companies by means of innovation
Maria Prandi, Founder and CEO of BHR
Our focus on supply chain
Spanish TOOLKIT
Since 2016, BHR has been working to understand, analyze and monitor human rights risks in the Spanish agricultural supply chains, through the study of the root causes, the identification of the most vulnerable workers and the assessment of the level of risks and impacts at the different levels of the supply chains and in diverse agricultural regions. BHR has performed wide field research and continuously engages with local actors, including businesses, industrial associations, regional ethical trade forums, trade unions, NGOs, authorities and workers.
BHR has provided advice to different clients, including retailers, public procurement agencies or ethical organizations sourcing in Spain. BHR relies on its local knowledge and network of contacts to find out how best its clients can address and manage human rights risks in their supply chains.
2020: BHR has published in collaboration with Stronger Together a Toolkit to equip Spanish agribusiness to better understand and address forced labour risks in their businesses ans supply chains.
client assignment examples
We are proud to serve a range of organisations: commercial and non-commercial, small and large, national and international.
Pre-assessment and risk mapping (2017)
In July 2017, Business and Human Rights (BHR) was contracted by the Fair Labor Association (FLA) to develop a Pre-Assessment and Risk Mapping Exercise regarding a Participating Company of the Association that operates in the Spanish agriculture sector.
The report provided an overview of the social and labor conditions in the fields where the Participating Company operates in Spain and giving also advice on the implementation of the FLA Program.
Human Rights Due Diligence Research in the Spanish Agricultural Sector (2017)
The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) commissioned BHR to conduct a research on human rights risks in the Spanish agricultural sector in order to enhance human rights standards in some ETI supply chain. The research underlined shared responsibilities for the mitigation of the identified risks. As a result, ETI is currently working with its UK members to promote greater collaboration across the entire value chain.
National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, Spain (July 2017)
BHR was the technical assistance to the Human Rights Office under the Spanish Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the drafting of the National Action Plan (NAP) on Businesses and Human Rights. The NAP was approved by the Council of Ministries in July 2017 and will serve as a public policy on the topic of business and human rights in Spain.
Potential Human Rights Impacts Matrix (Telefónica)
During 2017, BHR has updated Telefónica's potential human rights impacts matrix which was previously developed by the company.
Human Rights Risk Mapping Tool
BHR has developed a risk mapping tool based on its own methodology to help companies assess social, political and legal risk in the countries where they operate. The tool also enables companies take adequate preventative measures.
The tool is based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis that is weighted according to our client’s particular interest, industry, country of operation and own products. It includes the following indicators: legal protection offered by the State, human rights risks and socio-economic context. A final report details the analysis with additional information on the key risks by country.
The BHR methodology is an invaluable tool to manage human rights risk. It has been tested by different business sectors and operating countries.
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