Human Rights Due-Diligence in Conflict-Affected Settings-Guidance for Extractive Industries

Over ten years ago, the relationship between business, human rights, conflict and peace was less well-understood by companies and practitioners than it is today. Although the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPs)1 had been launched and had helped to progress a better understanding of business and human rights, the Global Compact?s Business for Peace platform, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), and the Sustainable Development Goals did not yet exist. There was little common understanding about the responsibilities and challenges for companies operating in contexts affected by conflict. It certainly was not common practice for a non-governmental organisation (NGO) to work closely with companies operating in a conflict-affected setting, much less with those from the extractive sector. Yet, ?International Alert took its mandate to heart, in that peacebuilding is not just done with people you?re sympathetic to, but rather with those that have a stake in conflict and peace contexts ? and multinationals are one of them. So we took the step to work with a challenging and much-criticised actor, at least according to the sector we work with (NGOs), to develop a technical methodology to engage with companies on their own terms