Getting Corporations to Respect Human Rights

A Rights and Democracy plan encourages corporations to be socially responsible, but is still a long way from being adopted.

In the remote jungles of Mindanao, a Filipino island where rebel groups and Islamic militants prowl and the Foreign Affairs department warns Canadians not to tread, a Calgary-based mining company has been busy extracting gold and silver from the land for several years.

In spite of the region’s instability, the project has proven to be a worthwhile risk for TVI Pacific, which is working to expand its extraction operations.

But, the publicly traded company’s activities in Mindanao over the years haven’t come without their share of controversy. TVI Pacific has been accused of committing or being complicit in human rights violations, including its use of local military personnel for security, and grabbing land that local indigenous people say they have inhabited and farmed for centuries.

While TVI Pacific has vehemently denied the accusations, the dispute took a new turn late last year when the firm agreed to conduct a human rights impact assessment as part of a pilot project initiated by Rights and Democracy, an arm’s-length organization created and funded by the Canadian government.

Companies that want to start up new projects, even in many developing countries, are often subject to government studies or must conduct their own to determine how the projects will impact the local environment and the social and economic well being of local communities.

But Diana Bronson, Rights and Democracy’s globalization and human rights coordinator, says human rights have often been overlooked. “It is seen as a big gap,” she says. “Part of it’s a mindset. [The companies] say it’s not their business.”

The human rights impact assessment devised by Rights and Democracy consists of interviews and a 75-page questionnaire. It aims to supplant social impact assessments by determining how a company can mitigate negative impacts on local communities, but also how it can maximize potential benefits.

It will also tie the cases to international treaties and agreements that the host country has signed to provide a legal basis for residents and the host country to take action if a company commits human rights violations.

“It’s an attempt to give the community a leg up to talk to companies on the same level,” Ms. Bronson says.

In September, Rights and Democracy began work on five case studies involving five companies working on controversial projects in different developing countries. Two projects involving Canadian companies, TVI Pacific and Nortel Networks, were selected.

Not all are on board

With the exception of Nortel, all of the companies selected agreed to participate in the study, though most were hesitant.

Nortel is involved in the development of a railroad in Tibet that human rights groups are worried will facilitate Chinese military movement within the area. The Canadian company is providing information communications technology for the project.

“Nortel categorically rejects in the strongest possible terms that we are collaborating with any government to repress the human rights or democratic rights of its citizens,” the statement reads. “We work with both private and public sector customers, and believe that our solutions promote the transfer of knowledge and improve communication globally.”

Over the years, the international community has worked hard to define the rights every person is entitled to, but “our failure is to make these rights operational,” Ms. Bronson says.

“When we think of human rights violations we think of torture, dictatorships and crimes against humanity. But there are other guarantees that are often overlooked, like the right to water and health.”

While many companies are starting to realize that negative reports and attention can affect their bottom line, Ms. Bronson acknowledges there are many challenges that will still have to be overcome before companies take active steps to account for human rights.

Not only can it be expensive to build schools and hospitals to provide the rights to education and health, but also deciding not to operate in contentious areas could reduce profits.

In addition, local governments are often too weak or unwilling to enforce the international human rights agreements they have signed on to, if they have elected to do so in the first place, which gives many companies free reign.

Lack of education

Also, many of these projects are in remote areas, meaning local residents are often uneducated and have few ways of drawing attention to the violations. Even when word gets out, governments in some countries where the companies are registered– like Canada– are reluctant, unwilling or unable to take steps against the companies.

Liberal MP Bernard Patry, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, says the government does insist that Canadian companies operating abroad follow Canadian rules and standards.

“We have some powers,” he says of the government’s ability to enforce those standards. Some companies require government support or funding, which may be withheld. “And when companies are called to appear in front of the committee, they don’t like that,” he says. But when a company doesn’t require government assistance, he acknowledges, “sometimes there is nothing that can be done.”

John Ridsdel, TVI Pacific corporate advisor and acting country manager for the Filipino project, says the company’s decision to take part in the Rights and Democracy study is only an effort to clear up the misconceptions about its operations. “We’re kind of putting our money where our mouth is,” he says.

Any controversy involving allegations of human rights violations, whether founded or not, costs a company, Mr. Ridsdel says. “It burns up a lot of time, money and expenses,” he says. “Companies today operate in a fishbowl.”

By agreeing to participate in the study, Mr. Ridsdel says, TVI Pacific is hoping to learn better ways to protect the rights of people affected by the development and to eliminate potential problems. For example, the company has worked to train its military security guards about human rights.

“What I’m most interested in is what we have learned for the purpose of moving forward,” he says. “There are a variety of lessons we have learned from the study. We plan to apply them to our next project.”

Tensions rising

But even TVI Pacific’s human rights impact assessment has created tension. Mr. Ridsdel says the local NGOs enlisted by Rights and Democracy to conduct the human rights impact assessment are categorically against the project, which means any study will be biased. Instead, the company has hired independent researchers and now two assessments are being conducted.

Catherine Coumans, research coordinator at Mining Watch Canada, says for now, getting companies to recognize and protect human rights in controversial projects will be a hard sell, but she expects human rights impact assessments to become more common as more countries begin taking the issues seriously.

“Right now they’re only reacting,” she says. “But in most parts of the world, the governments are sensitive to social conflict. I think companies are increasingly having to do this because information goes around the world increasingly quickly.”