What is the methodology to conduct an HRIA? Part 2: Human Rights Impact Assessment of Baffinland's Mary River Project
What is the methodology to conduct an HRIA? Part 2: Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) of Baffinland's Mary River Project, May 17, 2012 (Download complete PDF at left)
In the conduct of the assessment, the key stages are as follows:
• Preparation: assembling the assessment team; review of project documentation, including the FEIS; contacting stakeholders to inform them of the HRIA objectives and methodology and potential areas of collaboration.
• Legal framework: review the legal and regulatory provisions in Canada and Nunavut governing the project; review the project’s legal structure; and, identify potential gaps in terms of international human rights standards.
• Develop assessment criteria: using internationally-accepted HRIA tools (see below), develop a list of questions and indicators to guide interviews and research and to assess the compliance of government agencies and the company with international standards.
• Information-gathering: conduct individual and group interviews with all stakeholder groups and desk research in order to prioritize issues for the preliminary and final HRIA report; use radio show and media to elicit further commentary and discussion.
• Analysis and reporting: based on the assessment criteria developed previously, the assessment team will develop a series of preliminary findings and recommendations on the priority human rights issues; these preliminary findings and recommendations will be circulated to stakeholders for comments.
• Engagement and monitoring: after consultation on the findings and recommendations, a final HRIA report will be published and distributed; the assessment team will engage with all stakeholders to explain the report and to identify areas for monitoring and follow-up. All efforts will be made to propose follow-up measures that can be integrated into existing implementation and monitoring plans and processes.
It is anticipated that a preliminary report will be presented within the context of the NIRB review process. A final report will be published later (in late 2012 or early 2013) that still will be relevant to the construction, operation and monitoring of the mine, if it is approved.