TOOLS

In-depth material and guides from the UN, OECD, EU and organisations

UN Guiding Principles

Here you can read more about the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Linked to the UN Guiding principles on business and human rights, there is a framework for reporting that companies can use.

The Swedish Government has published a national action plan for business and human rights. The action plan aims at implementing the UN Guiding principles at the national level.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Center has compiled examples, articles and guides about the UNGP. See also their implementation hub, where the material is divided according to target group.

The Somo Institute has published a guide for organisations that want to investigate companies based on the UNGP and run campaigns.

The EU directive on sustainability reporting (2014/95/EU) states that all companies with 500 employees or more must publicly report how they implement policies regarding environmental stewardship, social responsibility and treatment of employees, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and bribes, as well as diversity in the board.

You can read more about how Sweden has chosen to implement the directive here:

The EU Commission has produced a practical guide on how the UNGP can be implemented in small and medium companies:

Human Rights Due Diligence

The OECD has developed a due diligence guide with recommendations suited to supply chains that include minerals from conflict and high-risk areas. These guidelines are applicable and relevant for all companies in OECD countries, including Sweden, regardless of where a company is positioned in the supply chain.

UNICEF has published a toolkit for companies that provides support on how children’s rights should be respected in large-scale mining.

Oxfam has published a guide for managing impacts related to equality and gender in extractive industries.

Oxfam has also released a toolkit for local communities and organisations to identify human rights violations, find ways to combat them, and engage companies and local authorities to ensure that they respect human rights.

NomoGaia has developed a range of tools for companies wanting to carry out human rights impact assessments. They have also conducted three case studies on completed impact assessments in the extractive industries. These illustrate the most common pitfalls and provide suggestions on how these can be avoided.

The Danish Institute for Human Rights has published a step-by-step guide for how companies can conduct a human rights impact assessment that includes the entire due diligence process.

Shift has a guide for due diligence in high-risk countries.

Stakeholder dialogue

There are several guides detailing how companies can engage with their stakeholders in the due diligence process: 

OECD

Global Compact Germany

Danish Institute for Human Rights

Global Deal for Decent Work and Inclusive Growth (initiative from Sweden supported by the OECD and the ILO)

Risk tools

The Department of Labor (US) has a tool that allows you to search products that are at risk of being produced by child or slave labour

MVO Nederland has a comprehensive risk assessment tool that compiles reports and information about companies’ impact by country.

Environmental Justice Atlas has a tool for identifying conflicts linked to environmental impact (states and companies).

Shift has a report to guide companies on how they can identify and prioritise risks in the supply chains.

FIDH (International Federation of Human Rights) has a guide for organisations and victims that describes various complaint mechanisms.

  • Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Abuses A Guide for Victims and NGOs on Recourse Mechanisms

Verité has developed a tool that maps risks for different products.

The Responsible Sourcing Tool maps risks for a variety of products and sectors.

Know the Chain is a platform for companies and investors that wish to understand and manage risks for forced labour in their supply chains.

Fairphone has published a report that explains which materials and minerals are used to make smartphones.

  • Smartphone Material Profile

Reports

ForumCiv has published a report on the linkages between the extractive industries and threats to human rights defenders/civil society and a report on the effects of coal mining in Colombia, where the Swedish energy company Vattenfall and the national pension funds (AP-fonderna) are investigated.

Swedwatch has published several reports on extractive industries, including copper, jade and platinum.

Human Rights Watch has published a report and a film on child labour used at gold mines in the Philippines.

Amnesty International has published a number of reports on human rights abuses linked to the extraction of natural resources.

Global Witness has published several reports about oil, gas and mining as well as logging.

International trade unions such as International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and IndustriALL Global Union have published several reports about risks for workers, for example within mining.