A/HRC/8/16 page 7 Companies should consider three sets of factors. The first is the country contexts in which their business activities take place, to highlight any specific human rights challenges they may pose. The second is what human rights impacts their own activities may have within that context, for example, in their capacity as producers, service providers, employers, and neighbours. The third is whether they might contribute to abuse through the relationships connected to their activities, such as with business partners, suppliers, State agencies, and other non-State actors. How far or how deep this process must go will depend on circumstances. Understand the context 20. A company should be aware of the human rights issues in the places in which it does business to assess what particular challenges that context may pose for them. Such information is readily available from reports by workers, NGOs, Governments and international agencies.10 The analysis should include the country’s national laws and international obligations as they relate to human rights, and potential gaps between international standards and national law and practice. Assess the company’s own activities 21. A company should analyze potential and actual impacts arising from its own activities on groups such as employees, communities, and consumers. It should determine which policies and practices may harm human rights and adjust those actions to prevent harm from occurring. An illustrative list of activities with direct impact might include the production process itself; the products or services the company provides; its labour and employment practices; the provision of security for personnel and assets; and the company’s lobbying or other political activities. Analyse the company’s relationships 22. A company should ensure that it is not implicated in third party harm to rights through its relationships with such parties. This possibility can arise from a company’s business activities, including the provision or contracting of goods, services, and even non-business activities, such as lending equipment or vehicles. Therefore, a company needs to understand the track records of those entities with which it deals in order to assess whether it might contribute to or be associated with harm caused by entities with which it conducts, or is considering conducting business or other activities. This analysis of relationships will include looking at instances where the company might be seen as complicit in abuse caused by others. This is explored further in Part III below. 10 For guidance on how to assess the local context, see Guide to Human Rights Impact Assessment and Management, Road-testing Draft, a joint publication of the International Finance Corporation, the Global Compact, and the International Business Leaders Forum, June 2007, p. 31, available at: http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/news_events/8.1/HRIA_final.pdf.