Voluntary principles on security and human rights

The Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR, commonly referred to as the VPs) are a set of non-binding principles developed in 2000 to address the issue of balancing safety needs while respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Voluntary Principles are seen as genuinely filling a critical void for companies seeking guidance AbOUT managing potential exposure to risks related to their security and human rights practices, especially in countries that are often associated with conflict or alleged abuses. The Principles also provide guidance for companies on identifying human rights and security risk, as well as engaging and collaborating with state and private security forces. The principles were developed through multi-stakeholder participation from governments, extractive industry and Non Government Organisations (NGOs)

Participants

The signatory participants are categorised as follow;

Governments

Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, United States

Companies

Amerada Hess Corporation, AngloGold Ashanti, Anglo American, BG Group, BHP Billiton, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold, Hydro, Marathon Oil, Newmont Mining Corporation, Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Rio Tinto, Shell, StatoilHydro, Talisman Energy

NGOs

Amnesty International, The Fund for Peace, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, International Alert, IKV Pax Christi, Oxfam

Purpose

The Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights were developed to assist companies in maintaining the safety and security of their operations within a framework that ensures respect for human rights. The Principles provide guidance for companies on identifying human rights and security risk, as well as engaging and collaborating with state and private security forces.

The Voluntary Principles were also developed to address the risk of litigation against companies in the extractive industry under US Alien Tort Claims Act (ACTA) Alien Tort Statute

Implementation

Many companies in the extractive industry have already incorporated the principles into their management systems and service agreements with contractors

Training

However, compliance demands more practical action in order to be effective: "Training is a significant area of interest for many companies, with a few companies already conducting trainings and others planning to do so in the future: Some training programs have focused specifically on security personnel, while at least one company focuses its training efforts on making operations managers more sensitive to security and human rights issues. The company notes that many of the personnel it has trained considered security and human rights issues of paramount importance even prior to the training.

Another company commissioned the development of a modular human rights training program with several modules on security and the Voluntary Principles, which is used throughout the company and not just for security personnel. In addition to using the modular training approach in a classroom environment, this company also provides ongoing, pre-shift briefings for security personnel"

"The Voluntary Principles should be embedded in company culture, in much the same way as Health and Safety, as the risks are just as great to reputation, STOCK price and legal liability. This extends to both private and public security provision, as proper risk assessment often shows gaps in efficiency in responding to everyday security situations. For example, in many cases both the private security provider and government security forces have no effective steps between negotiation and lethal force (in terms of the use of force continuum) in dealing with security incidents. Therefore, every time either the private or public security services are requested by a company to deal with an incident, the company walks a liability tightrope" Capacity Training International