Introduction
Human Rights together are considered: universal, inalienable, indivisible and interdependent – they cannot be considered in isolation. Notwithstanding this underlying premise, which Human Rights are most likely to be a source of reputational and financial risk for Businesses working in the oil sector?
From “Oil and Gas Sector Guide on Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, IHRB & Shift”:
In some instances, resource constraints will mean that a company needs to prioritise which (Human Rights) impacts it will address first
This analysis allows businesses to prioritise their management of potential adverse human rights impact by presenting those Human Rights that are more frequently reported in the oil sector, and are therefore a more likely source of risk. No attempt is made to assign severity to any adverse human rights in this analysis.
Which Human Rights are most commonly a source of news?
The following figure shows hits by news as a result type, for Human Rights from all sources and from the oil sector (note the difference in scale).
Note:
A simple Google™ search was used: no time limitations, “News” as a result type and searching for “human right” OR “human rights” for each human right (identified by a single word where ever possible e.g. “life”). This search is intended to count the number of hits for each human right, irrespective of the source of the news. The same search was repeated with the additional term “AND Oil –palm”. Intended to count the number of hits for each human right due to activities relating to oil, but excluding palm oil.
The search is indicative at best for a number of reasons:
o Google searches do not return consistent numbers of hits for the same search
o Using a single word to identify a human right will include non-relevant results
o Using two or more words will increase the number of results compared to a single word
o The use of two or more words in quotation marks will decrease the number of results compared to a single word
The following table shows the ranking of the various Human Rights for the oil sector, all sources and how the rank changed.
Human Right1
Oil
rank
All rank
Change
UDHR, ICESCR, ICCPR and ILO2
11. Right to privacy
1
1
0
UDHR 12; ICCPR 17
28. Right to health
2
2
0
UDHR 25; ICESCR 12
29. Right to education
3
3
0
UDHR 26; ICESCR 13 and 14
1. Right to life
4
4
0
UDHR 3; ICCPR 6
2. Right to liberty and security
5
8
-3
UDHR 3 and 9; ICCPR 9
24. Right to work
6
6
0
UDHR 23; ICESCR 6
15. Right of protection for the child
7
7
0
UDHR 25; ICCPR 24; ILO No. 182
16. Right to marry and form a family
8
5
3
UDHR 16; ICCPR 23; ICESCR 10
27. Right to an adequate standard of living
9
18
-9
UDHR 25; ICESCR 11
23. Right to social security, including social insurance
10
10
0
UDHR 22; ICESCR 9
17. Right to own property
11
9
2
UDHR 17; ICESR 15
25. Right to enjoy just and favourable conditions of work
12
14
-2
UDHR 23 and 24; ICESCR 7
26. Right to form and join trade unions and the right to strike
13
21
-8
UDHR 23; ICESCR 8; ILO No. 98
9. Right to a fair trial
14
11
3
UDHR 10; ICCPR 14
20. Right to freedom of assembly
15
16
-1
UDHR 20; ICCPR 21
12. Right to freedom of movement
16
12
4
UDHR 13; ICCPR 12
21. Right to freedom of association
17
13
4
UDHR 20; ICCPR 22; ILO No. 87
18. Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion
18
15
3
UDHR 18; ICCPR 18
19. Right to freedom of opinion, information and expression
19
24
-5
UDHR 19; ICCPR 19
4. Right not to be subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman and/or degrading treatment or punishment
20
19
1
UDHR 5; ICCPR 7
35. Rights of minorities
21
20
1
ICCPR 27
7. Right to freedom from war propaganda, and freedom from incitement to racial, religious or national hatred
22
17
5
UDHR 7; ICCPR 20
5. Right to recognition as a person before the law
23
23
0
UDHR 6; ICCPR 16
6. Right to equality before the law, equal protection of the law, non-discrimination
24
22
2
UDHR 7; ICCPR 26; ILO No. 111
13. Right to seek asylum from persecution in other countries
25
25
0
UDHR 14
30. Right to take part in cultural life, benefit from scientific progress, material and moral rights of authors and inventors
26
26
0
UDHR 27; ICESCR 15
3. Right not to be subjected to slavery, servitude or forced labour
27
27
0
UDHR 4; ICCPR 8; ILO No. 29; ILO No. 105
33. Right not to be subjected to imprisonment for inability to fulfill a contract
28
32
-4
ICCPR 11
34. Right of aliens due process when facing expulsion
29
28
1
ICCPR 13
8. Right to access to effective remedies
30
29
1
UDHR 8; ICCPR 2
31. Right of self-determination
31
31
0
ICCPR 1, ICESCR 1
32. Right of detained persons to humane treatment
32
30
2
ICCPR 10
10. Right to be free from retroactive criminal law
33
33
0
UDHR 11; ICCPR 15
22. Right to participate in public life
34
34
0
UDHR 21; ICCPR 25
14. Right to have a nationality
35
35
0
UDHR 15
Notes:
1 from IFC Human Rights Impact Assessment and Management Table
2 from Human Rights Translated, A Business Reference Guide, (International Business Leaders Forum, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights & UN Global Compact, 2008). UDHR- Universal Declaration of Human Rights; ICESCR- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; ICCPR- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and ILO – International Labour Organization Convention.
Which Human Rights are the most frequent source of news in the oil sector?
The frequency of hits in the oil sector for the top 10 Human Rights (with more than 10,000 hits) is broadly similar to that from all sources of news, with only one (Right to an adequate standard of living) appearing in the oil sector top 10 but not in the all sector top 10.
Which Human Rights are a more frequent source of news in the oil sector compared to all sources of news?
In order to understand which Human Rights are a more frequent source of news in the oil sector compared to all sources of news, the change in ranking for all Human Rights between all news sources and the oil sector is shown in the table below.
Human Right
Oil
rank
All
rank
Change
Right to liberty and security
5
8
-3
Right to marry and form a family
8
5
3
Right to an adequate standard of living
9
18
-9
Right to form and join trade unions and the right to strike
13
21
-8
Right to a fair trial
14
11
3
Right to freedom of movement
16
12
4
Right to freedom of association
17
13
4
Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion
18
15
3
Right to freedom of opinion, information and expression
19
24
-5
Right to freedom from war propaganda, and freedom from incitement to racial, religious or national hatred
22
17
5
Right not to be subjected to imprisonment for inability to fulfill a contract
28
32
-4
Note:
It is assumed that changes in rank of +/- 2 suggest little difference
Note that for Human Rights ranked 13 or below in the oil sector there are less than 7,500 hits
These 11 Human Rights have been grouped as follows.
ICCPR (& UDHR); or civil and political (CP) rights.
Right to liberty and security (change of -3)
Right to a fair trial (3)
Right to freedom of movement (4)
Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (3)
Right to freedom of opinion, information and expression (-5)
Right to freedom from war propaganda, and freedom from incitement to racial, religious or national hatred (5)
Right not to be subjected to imprisonment for inability to fulfill a contract (-4)
CP rights, that are relatively more frequently a source of news in the oil sector, are broadly related to personal security, the freedom of speech and freedom from imprisonment for non-fulfilment of a contract. Less frequent CP rights in the oil sector are concerned with right to a fair trial, movement, freedom of expression, and freedom from war propaganda.
UDHR ICCPR & ICESCR; both CP and economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights
Right to marry and form a family (3)
Right to an adequate standard of living (-9)
These rights broadly receive the same weighting for oil and all sectors except the right to form a family which is less frequent in the oil sector and the right to an adequate standard of living which is relatively much more frequent in the oil sector.
ILO (& UDHR, or ICESR, or ICCPR); labour (ILO) rights
Right to form and join trade unions and the right to strike (-8)
Right to freedom of association (4)
ILO rights relating to the right to form trade unions is relatively much more frequent in the oil sector and less about freedom of association
Conclusions
This analysis helps Businesses in the oil sector to manage risk to their reputation and finances by prioritising those Human Right that need to be addressed by a suitable and sufficient Human Rights Management System (see www.jmwe.co.uk). This focus should include the top Human Rights in the oil sector:
Right to privacy
Right to health
Right to education
Right to life
Right to liberty and security
Right to work
Right of protection for the child
Right to marry and form a family
Right to an adequate standard of living
Right to social security, including social insurance
In particular (because of their relatively increased importance in the oil sector):
Right to liberty and security
Right to an adequate standard of living