5.1: Human Rights Defenders (HRDs)
Does the bank publicly commit not to tolerate attacks on human rights defenders in connection with its operations or business relationships, and integrate HRD-specific considerations into its human rights due diligence processes?
About the data
The BankTrack Global Human Rights Benchmark is an independent assessment of the world’s largest commercial banks, measuring how they respect human rights in their policies, practices, and business relationships. Built on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the benchmark evaluates banks across key themes, including policy commitments, due diligence, remedy, and specific issues such as the protection of human rights defenders, free, prior, and informed consent, and environmental rights.
Why this metric is important: Human rights defenders are a particularly vulnerable group of rights-holders. As they challenge powerful actors and advocate for human and environmental rights, they often work in high-risk environments, where they are increasingly targets for harassment, threats, violence, and other forms of repression. Their specific rights are enshrined in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. The UN Guiding Principles also acknowledge the importance of human rights defenders in the context of corporate harms. Banks can impact on the specific rights of human rights defenders by financing or supporting companies or projects that pose a threat to them because of the nature of their advocacy. In 2021, the UN published interpretative guidance emphasising that business, including banks, must do more to safeguard the specific rights of human rights defenders, both through policy and in practice.
Why this metric is important: Human rights defenders are a particularly vulnerable group of rights-holders. As they challenge powerful actors and advocate for human and environmental rights, they often work in high-risk environments, where they are increasingly targets for harassment, threats, violence, and other forms of repression. Their specific rights are enshrined in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. The UN Guiding Principles also acknowledge the importance of human rights defenders in the context of corporate harms. Banks can impact on the specific rights of human rights defenders by financing or supporting companies or projects that pose a threat to them because of the nature of their advocacy. In 2021, the UN published interpretative guidance emphasising that business, including banks, must do more to safeguard the specific rights of human rights defenders, both through policy and in practice.
Methodology
Requirements for full and half score:
Full score: The bank commits not to tolerate attacks on HRDs, in connection to its own operations or its business relationships, in a statement of policy AND integrates HRD-specific considerations into human rights due diligence processes to identify and mitigate risks (including meaningful and safe stakeholder engagement).
Half score: The bank includes considerations on HRDs in a statement of policy, or as part of its human rights due diligence processes.
Full methodology can be found in the report.
Full score: The bank commits not to tolerate attacks on HRDs, in connection to its own operations or its business relationships, in a statement of policy AND integrates HRD-specific considerations into human rights due diligence processes to identify and mitigate risks (including meaningful and safe stakeholder engagement).
Half score: The bank includes considerations on HRDs in a statement of policy, or as part of its human rights due diligence processes.
Full methodology can be found in the report.
License
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Options
Yes
Partially
No
Assessment
Steward Assessed