How can mining engineers promote human rights in their projects?

2 Design with care

Once you have identified the human rights risks and impacts of your project, you need to design your project with care and sensitivity to avoid or minimize them. You should apply the principles of human rights due diligence, which means taking proactive steps to prevent, mitigate, and remedy any adverse human rights impacts that may arise from your project. You should also consider the environmental, social, and cultural aspects of your project, and ensure that they are compatible with the local context and the needs and aspirations of the affected stakeholders. You should also adopt best practices and technologies that reduce the environmental footprint, enhance the safety and health, and improve the efficiency and productivity of your project.

3 Monitor and report

During the implementation and operation of your project, you need to monitor and report on the human rights performance and impacts of your project. You should establish and maintain a transparent and accountable system of human rights indicators, data collection, analysis, and reporting that tracks and measures the progress and outcomes of your project on the human rights of the stakeholders. You should also communicate and disclose your human rights performance and impacts to the stakeholders and the public, and respond to any feedback, concerns, or complaints that may arise. You should also participate in independent audits, reviews, or evaluations that verify and validate your human rights performance and impacts.

4 Engage and collaborate

Throughout the life cycle of your project, you need to engage and collaborate with the stakeholders and other actors that have an interest or influence on the human rights aspects of your project. You should establish and maintain constructive and respectful relationships with the local communities, workers, indigenous peoples, civil society organizations, governments, regulators, investors, customers, suppliers, and other partners that are involved or affected by your project. You should also seek to understand their perspectives, expectations, and interests, and address any conflicts or disputes that may arise through dialogue, negotiation, or mediation. You should also support and participate in initiatives, networks, or platforms that promote human rights awareness, education, advocacy, or action in the mining sector.

5 Learn and improve

Finally, you need to learn and improve from your human rights experiences and practices in your project. You should evaluate and review your human rights performance and impacts regularly, and identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges that you face. You should also collect and document the lessons learned, best practices, case studies, or success stories that demonstrate how you have promoted human rights in your project. You should also share and disseminate your human rights knowledge and insights with your peers, colleagues, managers, and other stakeholders, and seek their feedback, suggestions, or recommendations on how to improve your human rights performance and impacts. You should also update and revise your human rights policies, procedures, standards, or guidelines to reflect your learning and improvement.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?