Adapting social impact assessment to address a project's human rights impacts and risks

Abstract

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Conceptualizing Company Response to Community Protest: Principles to Achieve a Social License to Operate

“…Where there is no social license to operate, there is a high probability of protest action, possibly leading to the disruption of construction or operations and associated financial losses for the company. Drawing on a range of sources [7,14,[83][84][85][86][87], it is possible to identify the many negative consequences for companies from protest action and heightened conflict with communities including: damage to property (plant and equipment); lost production; loss of legal license; court action and associated costs to defend; imposition of fines by regulators; court-awarded compensation; harm to reputation; stock market reaction; reduced share value; lost access to new sites; additional conditionalities imposed; increased cost of insurance and finance; cost of staff time and board time in crisis management and in addressing the issues; opportunity costs associated from diverted attention; and reduced access to new markets and new ventures. In contrast, there are substantial benefits that result from better engagement with local communities in the form of: better planning; minimizing post-project costs; avoiding legal action; avoiding delays; reducing litigation risk; improving competitive advantage in tendering; enhancing reputation; and reducing vulnerability to regulatory change.…”

“…With a wide range of actions possible, it can be complex for a company to consider what it should do in any particular situation. Drawing on a range of sources [5][6][7]13,20,29,80,[85][86][87][109][110][111][112] and reflecting on our own experiences, it is possible to distil the key general principles companies and other organizations should consider in deciding the actions they could use to help them gain a social license to operate and grow. In addition to observing local laws and complying with appropriate international standards, organizations seeking a social license to operate must:…”

“…If company reaction leads to escalation, this increases the amount of community protest and/or changes the type of protest action, which could lead to harmful outcomes to the company and community. Furthermore, communities and individuals have rights, and should companies use repressive actions, companies run the risk of violating the rights of local people, which could lead to reputational harm and legal action against the company well into the future [5][6][7]. The many legal actions the oil company, Shell, has had to face because of its actions (and inaction) in Nigeria in the 1990s is proof of this [8].…”

Social impact assessment in the Russian Federation: does it meet the key values of democracy and civil society?

“…Along with civil society and democracy, SIA is inherently participatory (Lockie 2001;Esteves et al 2012). It acknowledges the right of people to self-determination (Hanna and Vanclay 2013) and builds on certain key principles and values (Vanclay 2003), including respect for human rights (Vanclay 2003;Kemp and Vanclay 2013;Gӧtzmann et al 2016;Esteves et al 2017). Vanclay (2012) asserted that the understandings, experiences, philosophy and methods of SIA greatly enhance democratic decision-making and planning processes.…”

Reflections on Social Impact Assessment in the 21st century

“…The UNGP prompted the updating of many international standards, including a revision of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (OECD 2011), a European law on non-financial disclosure, and Modern Slavery legislation in some jurisdictions (Vanclay and Hanna 2019). Human rights issues are now integrated into SIA (Kemp and Vanclay 2013;Vanclay et al 2015;Götzmann et al 2016;Esteves et al 2017). One expectation of the UNGP is that all companies, projects and major activities (including any impact assessment and resettlement process) should have a grievance redress mechanism.…”