Abstract Description of the material Over the last decade, there has been considerable discussion about the role that business plays in relation to human rights. This paper focuses on the operationalization of this role and the measurement of the effectiveness of its application. The objective is to highlight the challenges faced by petroleum project operators associated with embedding respect for human rights in social and environmental management systems in countries where protection of such rights by the state is limited.
Application/Development Through a detailed review of petroleum projects currently in exploration and operational phases in Papua New Guinea (PNG), this paper shows that compliance with international and even internal corporate human rights related performance standards is, in the end, possibly immeasurable. It is certainly possible to measure a company’s efforts to promote respect for fundamental human rights through compliance performance audits but this does not necessarily reduce the risk of complicity in infringements and abuses by third parties. The International Finance Corporation’s renewed focus on such risks emanating from supply chains is an important step toward company’s reducing the potential for implication in abuses by others but conducting due diligence on human rights compliance on all suppliers in such typically complex jurisdictions can be costly, onerous and sometimes duplicitous.
Results, Observations, and Conclusions Effective supply chain management requires traditional procurement methods and tools; however, additional rigour is required when managing human rights performance. In a country such as PNG, where mining and petroleum operators have already been called into question for their human rights performance, it is important for an operator to implement additional differentiated measures that effectively enforce ongoing compliance on suppliers to ensure complicity in abuses and infringements within the supply chain are avoided.
Significance of Subject Matter In order to ensure long-term mitigation of human rights risks and impacts, particularly in the supply chain, performance monitoring should not just be about compliance but should also be about establishing standards of what is acceptable practice. This in the longer-term will support the shift in thinking and behaviour among all personnel that is required to ensure that human rights risks and impacts are managed effectively.