Despite the widely recognized ill-effects of extractive operations on the communities in which they operate, States, development banks, and extractive companies continue to support these projects without due consideration of their potential human rights impacts.

Following the adoption of the UNGPs in 2011, the UN Human Rights Council called on all Member States to draft NAPs on business and human rights. Since then, nineteen States have published NAPs. While a State must consider all sectors and industries when developing a NAP on business and human rights, given the high likelihood of adverse impacts caused by extractive projects, States that are rich in natural resources and/or home to multinational extractive companies should give specific consideration to the extractive sector within the substantive framework of their NAP.

This report provides guidance on how human rights issues related to the extractive sector can be addressed in NAPs on business and human rights, as well as other similar policies.  It is intended for use by both States with large amounts of oil, gas, mineral, and other natural resource wealth and extraction (host States) and States where multinational extractive companies are domiciled or registered (home States).

The practical tools included in this guidance are designed for use in conjunction with the ICAR-Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) “National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights Toolkit: 2017 Edition.”

This publication is the third in a series of thematic templates focusing on specific groups of rights holders or sectors particularly relevant to the issue of business and human rights. As such, it draws on prior guidance in the series, including the “Children’s Rights in National Action Plans (NAPs) on Business and Human Rights” thematic supplement, published by ICAR, DIHR, and UNICEF in 2015, and the “Human Rights Defenders in National Action Plans (NAPs) on Business and Human Rights” thematic supplement, published by ICAR and the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) in 2016.

The Extractives and National Action Plans (NAPs) on Business and Human Rights can be downloaded here.

The report is also available in Spanish.