HRCA (Human Rights Compliance Assessment)

HRCA

The HRCA
The Human Rights Compliance Assessment (HRCA) is a diagnostic tool designed to help companies detect potential human rights violations caused by the effect of their operations on employees, local residents and all other stakeholders. The tool has been under development by the Human Rights & Business Programme at the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) since 1999, and is a joint venture between the Danish Institute for Human Rights, the Confederation of Danish Industries (DI), and the Danish Industrialization Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), with the support of the Danish government (DANIDA). The aim of this cooperation has been to develop a widely accessible resource tool to help companies deal with human rights issues relevant for their particular operations.

The South African Version of the HRCA
The Human Rights Compliance Assessment South Africa (HRCA SA) comprises 38 questions and +- 300 indicators. The check has been developed jointly by the Human Rights and Business South Africa Project. The questions are based on the South Africa Country Risk Assessment and questions deducted from the HRCA Quick Check and the entire HRCA database. In addition, a number of new questions were developed that are specific for South Africa. These were based on additional research and inputs from organisations involved in the Human Rights and Business Project South Africa.* The check contains the most essential human rights issues a company must consider in relation to its activities in South Africa. The HRCA SA is part of the larger HRCA computer programme, which contains more extensive guidance on a broad range of human rights issues. The HRCA SA is available in hardcopy and as an online computerised programme which can be accessed against a user fee on the following website: humanrightsbusiness.org.

The HRCA was primarily designed for MNE's and bigger companies, but has also proven to be a useful tool for SME's and civil society. The HRCA SA has been developed and tested in cooperation with companies of different sizes and several South African civil society organisations.

The HRCA SA and South African Country Risk Assessment (CRA) have been developed jointly by the Danish Institute of Human Rights (DIHR) and the Project organisations of the South Africa Human Rights and Business Project (AICC, AFRA, BEFSA CSR, FTTSA, UCT and Khulumani Support Group).

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Please note the following dates of project forthcoming activities:

October 2007

Another Roundtable Meeting of which the outcomes of the Market Research and the Multi-Stake Holder Conference will be discussed.

National Human Rights and Business Conference: March 18th and 19th, 2008

AICC, in partnership with the South African Human Rights Commission and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, is holding a National Human Rights and Business Conference entitled 'Business, Development, and Poverty'. The event will be held at the Nedbank Sandton Auditorium. To register, and for more information, please see: www.africagrowth.net/humanrightsandbusiness

Round Table Discussion

There will be a roundtable discussion on the 10th & 11th July hosted by the South African Human Rights Commission.

Please contact us for further details.