DIHR helps produce human rights guide for Rio Tinto

On January 15, major mining company Rio Tinto published a guide designed to help employees integrate human rights into the company’s operations around the globe. The guide, entitled Why human rights matter: a resource guide for integrating human rights into Communities and Social Performance work at Rio Tinto, was developed by Rio Tinto in cooperation with the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM), part of the Sustainable Minerals Institute at The University of Queensland, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR).

The guide is designed to be used by Rio Tinto’s Community and Social Performance (CSP) Practitioners, but may also serve as an inspiration for other companies in similar industries. As such, the guide has the potential to further compliance with the 2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as well as other international standards on CSR and CSP:

“International principles on business and human rights will not become effective until we make them operable in the hands of practitioners within organisations. This work has to happen in real partnership between the human rights community and the business community. Rio Tinto’s new Human Rights Guide is a product of dialogue and co-creation drawing on the expertise of both worlds and we are proud to have been part of this process. The Guide offers comprehensive and practical direction to the implementation of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. We hope it will inspire good human rights practices in Rio Tinto as well as other companies”, says Allan Lerberg Jorgensen, Department Director for Human Rights and Business at the DIHR.

Rio Tinto’s global practice leader for Communities, Bruce Harvey, says the guide shows the company’s commitment to actively protecting human rights which is integral to its license to operate.

"We are committed to the protection of human rights across each and every one of our operations and throughout our business. It's not only the right way to do business but is essential to our license to operate.

As we move into more challenging regions and politically sensitive countries, we face increasing human rights risks that we must understand and address. This guide provides our operational teams with a systematic approach and expert guidance on how to protect, respect, and if necessary help remedy, any human rights impacts," said Bruce.

The guide is available to download from Rio Tinto’s homepage. Click here to find the guide.