Maritime industries and human rights

Purpose

We use the ocean in many ways. We produce food and energy, we extract raw materials and transport people and goods. While the ocean economy is key to enabling trade, prosperity, growth and nutrition, there are, however, also several human rights impacts associated with the maritime industry and its value chain that should be prevented, mitigated or remediated.

The Danish Institute for Human Rights (the Institute) works with partners to raise awareness of human rights risks and responsibilities of maritime industries.

The difference we make

The Institute is involved in several projects that provide more information about human rights due diligence and maritime industries. The various projects are aimed at developing comprehensive guidance of what human rights due diligence, as set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, means for maritime industries, throughout their value chains – from planning, designing and licensing through to recycling and consumption.

The Institute for Human Rights and Business, the Rafto Foundation and the Danish Institute for Human Rights have a joint project on human rights and the maritime sector with a specific emphasis on shipping. The project was initiated with the 'Mind the Gap Tour’ – a series of seminars on the human rights lifecycle of a ship with key actors in the maritime sector in Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim and Tromsø. In addition, we have organised roundtables in London and Singapore on human rights and shipping.

In 2019 the Institute worked with Danish Shipping on developing a guidance for Danish Shipping members on human rights. This project was supported by the Danish National Contact Point under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the Danish Maritime Fund.

The Institute, as part of the Sustainable Oceans project, funded by SIDA, is also conducting activities, including assessments and studies, on the human rights impacts of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in Bangladesh, Chile and at the global level. While these are separate projects, there is continuous collaboration between the two activities, for example in relation impacts of the two sectors in Norway.

Partners

• Danish Shipping
• Institute for Human Rights and Business
• Rafto Foundation