Risk-Based Approach Aligned with the UN Guiding Principles
Although the Voluntary Principles pre-date the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), they take the same approach as the requirements for human rights due diligence set out in the UNGPs, but they apply to security specifically. Like the UNGPs, the Principles require a human rights policy commitment, community consultation, a human rights risk assessment, and operational measures to prevent and mitigate human rights risks.
Full Text of the Principles
Download the complete Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights in your preferred language.
Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence
The Principles offer a leading global framework on security and human rights, which companies can use to interpret, align with, and implement the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and other mandatory human rights due diligence laws. As an operational framework, the Principles can show companies the “how” of security-related human rights compliance, especially in complex environments.
Incorporation into Industry Performance Standards
Embedded in 15 global industry performance standards as an express requirement or benchmark, the Principles are the leading security and human rights framework in the global energy and mining sectors. The Principles are incorporated into the Ipieca Principles, the ICMM Mining Principles, the World Gold Council Responsible Gold Mining Principles, the Bettercoal Code, the Responsible Steel Standard, the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining, and the Mining Association of Canada’s Toward Sustainable Mining.
Supply Chain Due Diligence
The Principles provide downstream and upstream businesses with the knowledge, tools and benchmarks they need to verify security-related human rights in complex environments in their supply chains. They are expressly referenced in the following global supply chain due diligence standards: OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas, the Responsible Minerals Initiative, the Responsible Jewellery Council, Copper Mark, ITSCI, the London Metals Exchange Responsible Sourcing Program, and the LBMA Responsible Gold Programme.
History of the Principles
History of the Principles
The Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights were created in 2000, when the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States, companies led by BP and Shell, and NGOs led by Human Rights Watch launched a multistakeholder dialogue to address security-related human rights abuses and violations in the extractive sector.
The complete list of founding stakeholders is as follows: the companies were Texaco, Chevron, BP, Conoco, Freeport-McMoRan, Rio Tinto, and Shell; the NGOs were Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Business for Social Responsibility, Fund for Peace, International Alert, Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum, Council on Economic Priorities, and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights; the labour organizations were the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions; and the governments were the United Kingdom and the United States. Through a collective multistakeholder effort, the Voluntary Principles were drafted and later became a globally recognized standard, implemented in many sectors and in over 150 countries around the world.