United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Thailand in collaboration with the Rights and Liberties Protection Department (RLPD) of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) developed the Human Rights Due Diligence Handbook for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (“the Handbook”) to strengthen businesses’ understanding of their linkages with human rights. The Handbook serves to build businesses’ capacity and understanding of human rights due diligence, including the relevant human rights principles, and is targeted for small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Human rights due diligence is an important process to ensure that a company is respecting and protecting human rights. It might be perceived as a part of cooperate actions to advance human rights, democracy and the rule of law, which lays a solid foundation for sustainable development. 

The Handbook comprises an introductory explanation of business and human rights, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and implementation guidance, procedures, case studies, and recommendations related to human rights due diligence. It is designed to increase businesses’ understanding of human rights due diligence and strengthen their capacity and readiness to conduct HRDD within their own organizations and supply chains. The contents of this Handbook are aligned with internationally recognized principles, and the Handbook uses common terminologies that are accessible for general readers.

The objective of each chapter is to provide clarity on the various requirements of human rights due diligence, especially on internationally accepted principles and terminologies. Through following clearly outlined steps, businesses can begin to conduct human rights due diligence, whether as a standalone process or as a part of existing internal assessment processes. 

UNDP is committed to supporting the Thai government and businesses to transform their commitment to Protect, Respect, Remedy framework under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) into action.