3. Respect Human Rights
Operational
Procedures for Exploration
Objective:
To promote the principles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of
Human Rights by incorporating them into policies
and operational procedures for exploration.
Introduction
Respect for human rights is a measure of civilization which supports the
legitimacy, integrity and stability of social institutions, and is
essential to the rule of law, justice and fairness.
Governments have the primary responsibility to
protect and promote human rights.
However, society expects private enterprise to respect human
rights and, in effect, �do no harm,� even in situations where
governments do not or will not protect human rights.
Failure to respect and protect human rights has a negative impact
on such aspects as social acceptance of a project, corporate reputation
and, by extension, economic risk.
The Guidance on human rights focuses on three areas:
labor rights, the rights of communities, and security during exploration
activities. These aspects
are of particular importance because they most frequently intersect with
human rights during exploration projects.
However, explorers should respect and uphold all universally
recognized human rights through the implementation of policies and
procedures based on the principles of the United Nations Universal
Declaration of Human Rights [1].
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