What is the overarching goal of human rights due diligence?

The overarching goal of human rights due diligence is to prevent human rights impacts. This process involves identifying, assessing, and addressing potential and actual human rights impacts that a company may cause or contribute to through its operations, business relationships, or supply chains. By integrating human rights considerations into their business practices, organizations can take proactive measures to mitigate risks to individuals and communities, ensuring that they do not harm human rights.

This preventative approach is essential as it aligns with the expectation from various stakeholders, including investors, regulators, and civil society, for companies to be responsible for their human rights impacts. It also underscores the principle of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which advocates that companies should act in a way that respects human rights and take steps to avoid causing or contributing to harm.

While evaluating compliance, identifying risks to corporate reputation, and enhancing stakeholder engagement are important parts of a company’s overall corporate social responsibility strategy, they do not encapsulate the primary objective of due diligence in the context of human rights. The primary focus is always on the preventive nuance of avoiding negative impacts on human rights, making prevention the core objective of human rights due diligence efforts.