BSR | Human Rights Impact Assessment: Facebook in Myanmar
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the founder, chairman and chief executive officer and
chief operating officer.
being addressed, business enterprises should track the
effectiveness of their response.”
Rather than duplicate these existing structures, BSR
proposes that enough resources (budget, people, time,
formal terms of reference) be allocated to ensuring that
the human rights management and mitigation plans
arising from this and other HRIAs (see section 7.2) are
implemented, reviewed, and tracked by relevant
Facebook decision-makers, forums, and committees. In
short, we are recommending integration into existing
processes, rather than the creation of a parallel
structure.
Principle 17(c) of the UNGPs states that human rights
due diligence “should be ongoing, recognizing that the
human rights risks may change over time as the
business enterprise’s operations and operating context
evolve.”
This should include ensuring that human rights impacts
of material importance to business success are
communicated to the Facebook Board and Audit and
Risk Oversight Committee.
Facebook should periodically review the contents of this
HRIA, taking into consideration any material changes in
the local context or Facebook’s product and service
mix.
Publish periodic human rights updates to the
public.
These communications could take a variety of forms.
For example, Facebook could establish a dedicated
human rights website as a “home” to this and other
HRIAs, provide regular updates on progress, or publish
a formal annual human rights report.
Continue to undertake similar HRIAs in other highrisk markets.
Facebook can develop a more robust and systematic
approach to human rights by undertaking HRIAs in
other high-risk markets. BSR notes that Facebook has
already initiated HRIAs in several other countries and
has plans in place to grow that number.
GNI Implementation Guideline 2.7(f) states that
companies should “update human rights impact
assessments over time, such as when there are
material changes to laws, regulations, markets,
products, and services.”
GNI Implementation Guideline 2.3 states that
companies should review freedom of expression and
privacy risks related to the company’s operations in a
manner consistent with the company’s overall approach
to risk management.
Principle 21 of the UNGPs states that companies
should communicate how they address human rights
impacts externally.
GNI Implementation Guideline 5.4 states that
participating companies should communicate their
general approach to addressing their human rights
impacts in relation to freedom of expression and
privacy, such as via public communications or formal
reporting.
Principle 17 of the UNGPs states that “in order to
identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they
address their adverse human rights impacts, business
enterprises should carry out human rights due
diligence.”
Principle 17 of the UNGPs also states that “where
business enterprises have large numbers of entities in
their value chains it may be unreasonably difficult to
conduct due diligence for adverse human rights impacts
across them all. … Business enterprises should identify
general areas where the risk of adverse human rights
impacts is most significant … and prioritize these for
human rights due diligence.”