Human Rights crosscut a wide range of issues, and mining activities by their nature can impinge on many of them. Ten years after the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), data from the RMI Report 2020 shows that the large mining companies assessed score on average a low 19% on human rights-related issues. It is more than time for mining companies to fully embrace both the precepts of ‘respect’ and ‘remedy’ on all aspects of Human Rights.

With the momentum created by the call for a Decade of Global Implementation of the UNGPs, normalisation of respect and remedy for human rights in the mining industry will also reinforce the aims of the UN Decade of Action to deliver on the SDGs.