ACFID and the RDI Network respectfully acknowledges all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Custodians of Country and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, culture and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.
Compliance with the Commitments will be assessed against the following Compliance Indicators. All of the applicable Compliance Indicators must be met by every ACFID Member to be considered compliant with the Code. Each of the Compliance Indicators has one or more compliance Verifiers. Verifiers are the description of evidence that is required to substantiate compliance with each Compliance Indicator. Guidance is also provided.
Policy, statement or guidance document which commits Members to human rights, noting that human rights are for everyone, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, indigeneity, disability, age, displacement, caste, gender, gender identity, sexuality, sexual orientation, poverty, class or socio-economic status.
At the most basic level, Members will have a formal statement that commits them to respect, protect and promote internationally recognised human rights for all, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, indigeneity, disability, age, displacement, caste, gender, gender identity, sexuality, sexual orientation, poverty, class or socio-economic status.
Agency ABC might have the following statement:
Agency ABC is an international development agency that respects, protects and promotes human rights for all, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, indigeneity, disability, age, displacement, caste, gender, gender identity, sexuality, sexual orientation, poverty, class, or socio-economic status.
At a more advanced level, Members will outline their commitment to human rights through a policy and/or guidelines.
Development and humanitarian initiatives show evidence of linkages to the realisation of human rights.
Aligning development and humanitarian initiatives with the realisation of human rights obligations enhances the legitimacy and effectiveness of our work. This does not mean that program or initiative goals to need to be expressed from a human rights perspective, but that Members should be able to show the linkages between their work and the realisation of human rights. For example, a program focusing on maternal health can be linked to sexual and reproductive rights. A table of the linkages between the Sustainable Development Goals and related human rights can be downloaded in the Resources Section below.
For those members who take a human-rights based approach to their work, they may frame their initiatives from a rights-based perspective that emphasises building the ability of rights-holders to claim their rights and build the capacity of duty bearers to fulfil human rights.
Development and humanitarian initiatives consistently show evidence of strategies towards protecting primary stakeholders from discrimination, violence, abuse, exploitation or neglect as relevant to the context.
Through good analysis of the context in which they are working, Members can identify the risks that primary stakeholders face with regards to discrimination, violence, abuse, exploitation or neglect and develop strategies to prevent or mitigate this. Members must do all they reasonably can to avoid exposing people to further harm, for example not building settlements for displaced people in unsafe areas and maintaining confidentiality for non-heterosexual stakeholders in areas where non-heterosexual sex is criminalised.
The following Good Practice Indicators describe a higher standard of practice than that set out in the Compliance Indicators. While Members do not need to meet the Good Practice Indicators to be considered compliant with the Code, they will self-assess against these indicators once every three years. This provides a clear pathway for Members to strengthen and improve practice over time.
Here are some practical suggestions for your organisation to further deepen and improve practice over time.
One way of understanding a human rights approach is to see our role as:
A human rights approach will vary depending on the nature of the organisation concerned and the issues it deals with. Common principles, however, have been identified as the "PANEL" principles: Participation, Accountability, Non-discrimination and equality, Empowerment and Legality. The summary of these principles below is gratefully adapted from materials from the Scottish Human Rights Commission.
Everyone has the right to participate in decisions that affect them and their human rights. Participation must be active, free and meaningful, and give attention to issues of accessibility, including access to information in a form and a language which can be understood.
Accountability requires effective monitoring of compliance with human rights standards and achievement of human rights goals, as well as effective remedies for human rights breaches. For accountability to be effective, there must be appropriate laws, policies, institutions, administrative procedures and mechanisms of redress in order to secure human rights.
Effective monitoring of compliance and achievement of human rights goals also requires development and use of appropriate human rights indicators.
A human-rights approach means that all forms of discrimination in the realisation of rights must be prohibited, prevented and eliminated. It also means that priority should be given to people who are the most marginalised and vulnerable and face the biggest barriers to realising their rights.
Everyone is entitled to claim and exercise their rights and freedoms. Individuals and communities need to be able to understand their rights, and to participate fully in the development of policy and practices which affect their lives.
A human-rights approach requires that:
Demonstrate your commitment to internationally recognised human rights principles through developing policies that address key human rights. These policies should: