A/HRC/4/74 page 6 21. As valuable as the HRIA process can be, it is not an end in itself. Just as with any risk and impact assessment tool, it is how those involved use the findings and engage with the process that matters - little credit is given for simply going through the exercise. III. DISTINCTIVENESS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACT ASSESSMENTS: A DIFFERENT APPROACH 22. The clearest difference between HRIAs and ESIAs is that, while following the impact assessment methodology and principles described above, HRIAs should be framed by the International Bill of Rights, which consists of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.6 23. In addition to the legal and regulatory requirements described in paragraph 12, HRIAs should catalogue the relevant human rights standards, including those set out in international conventions to which the home and host countries are signatories (perhaps also noting human rights conventions those countries have not ratified), other standards such as indigenous customary laws and traditions (for example those that govern the distribution and ownership of land), and international humanitarian law, where there might be armed conflict. 24. If the proposed business activity already has associated investment treaty obligations, host government agreements, or contracts with government agencies and suppliers, HRIAs should examine whether human rights protections have been adequately built in.7 25. But an HRIA should not be merely an additional section in an ESIA, or an ESIA reorganized under different headings. Rather, grounding an impact assessment in the human rights framework implies a different approach. 26. HRIAs should deviate from the ESIA approach of examining a project’s direct impacts, and instead force consideration of how the project could possibly interact with each and every right. For example, the ESIA approach might not result in any discussion of freedom of expression, whereas an HRIA could envision a community protest against the project being suppressed by State forces. While there is currently no global consensus about the roles and obligations of companies under international human rights standards, this exercise can be undertaken without normative assumptions, like scenario planning or other similar exercises. (http://www.cdainc.com/publications/cep_issue_papers.php). There are also resources specifically on conflict-sensitive interviewing, such as Simon A. Mason, From Conflict to Cooperation in the Nile Basin, August 2004, available at http://www.css.ethz.ch. 6 See the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/index.htm. 7 See, for example, Amnesty International, Human Rights on the line: The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project, May 2003, available at http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10128.