The Centre's work in this area is led by Dr James Harrison and has focused upon Research and capacity building activities. Our work in this area has enabled the Centre to assist un actors, civil society organisations, government officials and other bodies in better understanding a range of methodological issues in undertakING human rights impact assessments.

Scottish Human Rights Commission

In April 2010, Dr James Harrison, Mary Ann-Stephenson (Centre Fellow) and Andrew Williams were commissioned by the Scottish Human Rights Commission to review all the practice of conducting human rights impact assessments in the UK and internationally and to produce guiding principles for conducting future human rights impact assessments.

Their final report includes and eight-step process that can be utilised in any HRIA process and detailed recommendations for how those eight steps should be implemented. The report also includes illustrations of how this HRIA process will function.

The report can be accessed here. 

The Joint Committee on Human Rights' Report on the Implementation of the Right of Disabled People to Independent Living has recommended that the Government should publish an integrated human rights and equality impact assessment of the likely cumulative impact of the proposals on independent living - based on the methodology which CHRP has been developing for SHRC. For more details of this, click here.

Assessing the equality and human rights impact of spending cuts on the rights of women in Coventry

Coventry Women's Voices and the Centre for Human Rights in Practice are undertaking a joint project to assess the impact of the public sector spending cuts on the human rights of women in Coventry. Our first report has now been published - Unravelling Equality? A Human Rights and Equality Impact Assessment of the Public Spending Cuts on Women in Coventry.

CHRP and CWV are currently working on the second stage of the project which focuses on the impact of the public spending cuts on older women in Coventry.

For more information please click here.

ESRC Collaborative Studentship Investigating Cuts and Changes to Legal Advice Services

The Centre for Human Rights in Practice are currently advertising for an ESRC-Funded Collaborative PhD will examine the impact of the imminent cuts to legal advice services, particularly on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. This PhD will build upon the Centre's approaches and methodologies in its previous equality and human rights impact assessment work. For more information please click here.

Human Rights Impact Assessment of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

In 2008-09 the Centre provided support and methodological guidance to the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CICC) and the Canadian Parliament's Standing Committee on International Trade with regard to proposals for a HRIA of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Dr. Harrison produced a background paper setting out the main methodological issues in undertaking an HRIA of a trade agreement. The paper is available here. Dr.Harrison also led a number of training and capacity-building sessions for parliamentarians and civil society actors to discuss how an HRIA might properly function.

in 2011, Dr. Harrison acted as an advisor to the Canadian Department for Foreign Affairs and International Trade on the development of their methodology for their human rights reporting mechanism on the Canada-Colombia FTA.

Scoping Study for an Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment of Ethiopian Trade Agreements

In May 2012, the Centre for Human Rights in Practice began a joint project with Mekelle University Center for Human Rights to identify the human rights and equality impacts of trade agreements in Ethiopia. The study aims to undertake a scoping study on the human rights impact of Ethiopian accession to the WTO and the Economic Partnership Agreement between African Caribbean and Pacific countries and the European Union. The report is planned to be launched in Septmber 2012.

Experts Meeting on Human Rights Impact Assessments of Trade Agreements

The UN Special Rapporteur on Food, Professor Olivier De Schutter, convened a meeting of experts in Geneva on 23-24 June 2010 to advance methodologies and thinking for undertaking human rights impact assessments (HRIAs) for trade and investment agreements Dr. Harrison presented the main background paper at the meeting entitled "Human Rights Impact Assessments: Reflections on Practice and Principles for Future Assessments".

To access the background paper click here.  The report of the conference is available here

Other Work of the Centre

• Business HRIAs. On 31 January 2011, the Centre responded to an online consultation by the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights. The response particularly focused on the issue of HRIAs by businesses and it can be accessed here:

• HRIAs by Women's Rights Activists. On 8 and 9 December 2010, Dr James Harrison gave talks at conferences in Utrecht and Amsterdam organised by Aim for Human Rights. He presented his research on methodologies for conducting human rights impact assessments of trade agreements. The eight essential elements of the HRIA process set out in the paper were then utilised as the basis for discussion among women's human rights activists from all over the world to critique their own HRIA practice.

• HRIA in the Pacific Region. In the summer of 2010, the International Women's Development Agency (IWDA) and researchers from La Trobe Univeristy and the University of Melbourne undertook a 'scoping study' for a HRIA of the PACER-Plus trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand and the Pacific Island countries. Dr James Harrison acted as an advisor to the study. The study is available here.

Key Publications

Harrison and Stephenson, Assessing the Impact of the Public Spending Cuts: Taking Human Rights and Equality Seriously, in Aoife Nolan, Rory O'Connell and Colin Harvey (eds) Human Rights and Public Finance Budgets and the Promotion of Economic and Social Rights (Hart Publishing, forthcoming). Available through SSRN at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1868903

Stephenson and Harrison, Unravelling Equality? A Human Rights and Equality Impact Assessment of the Public Spending Cuts on Women in Coventry (Centre for Human Rights in Practice, 2011) available here.

Harrison, 'Human Rights Measurement: Reflections on the Current Practice and Future Potential of Human Rights Impact Assessment' Journal for Human Rights Practice (2011) 3 (2), 162 – 187

Harrison and Stephenson, Human Rights Impact Assessment: Review of Literature Practice and Guidance for Future Assessments, A Report for the Scottish Human Rights Commission (2010). Available on the SHRC website here.

Harrison, Measuring Human Rights: Reflections on the Practice of Human Rights Impact Assessment and Lessons for the Future (November 10, 2010). Warwick School of Law Research Paper No. 2010/26. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1706742

Harrison, Human Rights Impact Assessments of Trade Agreements: Reflections on Practice and Principles for Future Assessments A Paper for the Expert Seminar on Human Rights Impact Assessments of Trade and Investment Agreements (2010). Available here.

Harrison 'Trade Agreements, Intellectual Property and Access to Essential Medicines: What Future Role for the Right to Health?', in Global Governance of HIV/AIDS, Editors: Aginam, O, Harrington, J and Yu, P, (Hart Publishing, forthcoming 2010). SSRN working paper available here.

Harrison, 'Conducting A Human Rights Impact Assessment of the Canada-Columbia Free Trade Agreement: Key Issues.', A Background Paper for the CCIC Americas Policy Group (2009) 1 – 17. Available here.

Harrison and Goller 'Trade and Human Rights: What Does 'Impact Assessment' Have to Offer?' (2008) Human Rights Law Review 8 (4), 587 – 615.

Links

Human Rights Impact Resource Centre - A comprehensive database of human rights impact assessments and information about a range of events and programmes.

Business Human Rights Resource Centre on Impact Assessment - Information and news about human rights impact assessment in the business world.

Guide to Corporate Human Rights Assessment Tools - Produced by Aim for Human Rights, this booklet compares the main business HRIA tools available.

Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument - Information about this instrument and case studies where it has been utilised.

For any more information about the Centre's work in this area, please contact James Harrison at J.Harrison.3@warwick.ac.uk