Coverage: Global
Global coverage of mandatory laws, regulations and standards, proposed, enacted & amended, as well as voluntary frameworks, guidance documents, and factsheets which cover obligations placed on companies regarding their actual or proposed responses to the human rights risks of affected communities. Note: We do not cover voluntary national standards.
Affected communities consist of people outside the company’s workforce and/or supply chain that may be affected by the company’s operations and include people:
- Living or working near the company’s factories and facilities or other remote communities actually or potentially affected by those activities (e.g., a toxic waste spill affecting a community’s access to clean drinking water or a peaceful protest by communities against business operations that was met with a violent response from the company's security services);
- Along the company’s value chain (e.g., communities affected by the operations and activities of suppliers’ facilities, logistics or distribution providers);
- Located at either or both endpoints of the value chain (e.g., communities located adjacent to mines or harvesting of commodities or near waste or recycling sites);
- Indigenous peoples (e.g. ensuring proper consultation is undertaken with local communities and that prior informed consent is obtained before building on their land).
Legislation covering affected communities typically requires companies to disclose their:
- Policies on how they manage material impacts, risks and opportunities associated with the human rights of affected communities;
- Processes for engaging with affected communities about impacts and remediating negative impacts including the establishment of grievance/complaints procedures, hotlines, and/or other measures that allow affected communities to raise concerns or explain needs that they would like the company to address.
- Action taken to manage and mitigate the risks e.g. training for relevant staff on indigenous people’s rights, including free, prior and informed consent.
- Targets related to managing material negative impacts and advancing positive impacts.
The content area covers obligations placed on companies to disclose information on the approach that they take to identify and manage impacts on affected communities relating to:
- Communities' economic, social, and cultural rights e.g. adequate housing and food, water and sanitation, land and security.
- Civil and political rights e.g. freedom of expression and assembly, and impacts on human rights defenders.
- Particular rights of indigenous peoples e.g. free, prior, and informed consent, self-determination, and cultural rights.
Sources that contain general statements of indigenous peoples' rights with respect to access to natural resources, education, protection of traditions and culture, etc., and that do not create any obligations for companies to address their actual or potential human rights impacts on communities outside their workforce are not covered.
Affected communities do not include employees or contractors of the company or any workers in the company’s supply chain. The rights and obligations of these people are covered by our Human Trafficking & Slavery and Labor and Employment content areas.
Please note this content area is not product-specific. It focuses on requirements for companies to disclose their strategies (planned and taken actions) in managing and engaging with affected communities based on human rights principles and to provide remedies to individuals or groups who may suffer harm as a result of the company’s actions and/or inactions.
Sources covered include, but are not limited to:
- Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (ATSIHP Act)
- Australia: Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986
- Belgium: Ban on the Trade of Products and Services arising from Human Rights Violations, Draft Law, 29 August 2024
- EU: Sustainability Reporting Standards, Delegated Regulation, July 2023 (including ESRS S3 on Affected communities)
- Illinois (USA): Environmental Protection Act, 415 ILCS 5, Law, 1970 - Proposed Amendment - (on ensuring proper consultation of environmental justice communities and environmental justice assessment) Senate Bill 1307, 2025
- Japan: Respect for Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains, Guidance Document, August 2022
- Mexico: Amendment to the Mexican Constitution on Prior Consultation and Informed Consent of Indigenous People and Afromexican Communities, Decree, September 2024
- Mexico: General Law on Indigenous and Afromexican Communities, Draft Law, February 2025
- Mexico: General Water Law, Draft Decree, April 2020
- OECD: Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct in a Global Context, Guidance Document, June 2023
- Peru: General Environmental Law No. 28611, 2005 -Proposed Amendment- (on proper consultation of affected communities) Draft Law, June 2024
- Switzerland: Popular Initiative for Responsible Businesses in Protecting Human Rights and the Environment, Decision, January 2025
- UNDP: Human Rights Due Diligence and the Environment. A Practical Tool for Business, Guidance Document, November 2024
- UN: The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact, 2000
- UN: Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Guidance Document, March 2011
- UN: Regulating in International Human Rights Law the Activities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, Draft Treaty, July 2018
We cover key ESG standards related to the content areas in your subscription as a part of our ESG Solution.
Connection with other Content Areas:
Labor/Employment
Labor/Employment focuses on the protection of work-related rights for workers only whereby companies must identify and proactively manage issues relating to their own workforce and workers in its value chain only i.e., it does not include impacts, risks, or opportunities that the company may have on 3rd parties outside of their workforce or workers in their value chain.
Human Rights-Affected Communities on the other hand covers sources requiring disclosures by a company of its material impacts on and/or material risks and opportunities related to the economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights of all affected communities outside of the workforce or value chain such as people living or working near the company’s factories.
Human Trafficking and Slavery (HT&S)
Our HT&S content area concerns the protection of a company’s own employees and workers and those in its supply chain and covers obligations for certain companies to report on their efforts to
eradicate human trafficking and slavery within their supply chains. Human Rights-Affected Communities is broader in nature and covers disclosure of material impacts and/or risks that a company may have, as well as the strategies and policies to ensure that the human rights of affected communities outside of the supply chain are respected.
ESG Reporting
Our ESG Reporting content area focuses on laws and regulations requiring companies to produce a report (in a similar way that they are required to produce a financial report) on their overall ESG performance in terms of environmental protection, social responsibility and treatment of employees, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and bribery, diversity on company boards, etc. ESG reporting includes an obligation on companies to disclose information on their human rights policies and practices under the ‘social’ or ‘S’ component of ESG Reporting. It is broader in nature and captures both environmental reporting (“E”) as well as governance (“G”).
Our Human Rights-Affected Communities content area, on the other hand, focuses solely on the ‘social’ or ‘S’ component and is limited to actual or potential impacts and risks that a company may have on communities outside of the company workforce that are connected with and affected by the company’s own operations and value chain, including its products, services, and business relationships.
EH&S Environment
The EH&S topic includes sources that focus on reducing the impact of companies' facilities on the physical environment, such as soil, air, waste management (solid and hazardous waste; collection, storage, transport, treatment, and disposal of waste), and water supply. The Affected Communities Topic includes how a company discloses information on its actions to prevent and mitigate material impacts on communities arising from the company's facilities and along its value chain.
Further information:
Please email sales@complianceandrisks.com or speak to your account manager.