This Standard is part of the set of GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards). These Standards are designed to be used by organizations to report about their impacts on the economy, the environment, and society. The GRI Standards are structured as a set of interrelated, modular standards. The full set can be downloaded at www.globalreporting.org/standards/. 

In the context of the GRI Standards, the social dimension of sustainability concerns an organization’s impacts on the social systems within which it operates. 

GRI 412 addresses the topic of human rights assessment. The international standard that establishes the expectations of responsible conduct for organizations with respect to human rights is the United Nations (UN) ‘Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’, endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011. The methodology for the former G4 standard for this metric (G4-HR1) can be found here. 

An organization can impact human rights directly, through its own actions and operations. It can also impact human rights indirectly, through its interactions and relationships with others, including governments, local communities and suppliers, and through its investments.

Organizations are responsible for their impacts on the entire range of internationally recognized human rights. These rights include, at a minimum, all rights set out in the International Bill of Rights and the principles set out in the International Labour Organization (ILO) ‘Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work’. The International Bill of Rights includes the following three instruments:

• the UN Declaration, ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’, 1948;
• the UN Convention, ‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’, 1966;
• the UN Convention, ‘International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights’, 1966.

In order to identify, prevent and mitigate negative human rights impacts, an organization can undertake human rights reviews or impact assessments of its operations. It can also implement specialized training that equips employees to address human rights in the course of their regular work.

In addition, an organization can integrate human rights criteria in screening, or include human rights criteria in performance requirements when making contracts and agreements with other parties, such as joint ventures and subsidiaries.

The disclosures in this Standard can provide information about an organization’s approach to preventing and mitigating negative human rights impacts. Full disclosure guidance can be found here: GRI 412: Human Rights Assessment