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Engagement with local stakeholders will often enable a business enterprise to
better understand the context in which it operates.
An enterprise’s sector determines many of the activities it engages in, some
of which may carry particular human rights risks. For example, agribusiness
enterprises often invest in land for new agricultural activities. This land may be
inhabited or used by communities for their livelihoods, whether or not they are
recognized as having legal title. This creates a particular risk for the right of the
individuals concerned to an adequate standard of living. An information and
communications technology company may be at particular risk of impacting
the rights to privacy and/or information of its users as a result of data sharing
or censorship. Enterprises in sectors that routinely work with toxic products,
such as chemical companies, many manufacturing companies, as well as
mining companies, may pose a particular risk to the right to safe water. (These
are mere illustrations. Other rights may also be at risk in these sectors.)
An enterprise’s operational context can also make a significant difference. If
labour laws are poorly implemented and enforced by the State authorities, then
working with suppliers from that region will carry a higher risk of becoming
involved in labour rights abuses. If the area is affected by, or prone to, conflict,
there may be particular risks with regard to security, the right to life and ethnic
discrimination. If the region suffers from water scarcity, then the risk of adverse
impact on the right to safe water will be high. If the affected communities
include indigenous peoples, then their rights, including their cultural rights,
may be at particular risk.
These factors of sector and operational context are therefore especially
relevant, or salient, in determining which human rights are at greatest risk from
a particular enterprise’s operations. As stressed above, this does not mean they
should become its exclusive focus. But they will likely need to be the subject of
the most systematized and regular attention.
Q 16. How is an enterprise’s ownership relevant to its
responsibility to respect human rights?
All enterprises have the same responsibility to respect human rights regardless
of ownership. It applies whether they are publicly listed, privately owned,
State-owned, joint ventures or have some other, or hybrid, form of ownership.
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