Establishing a team to help manage the incident
As soon as you become aware of a potential human rights violation, consider assembling an incident management (IM) team to investigate and respond to the issue.
When assembling the IM team, consider the following:
- whether to incorporate internal legal advisors, regulatory and compliance specialists, human resources and public relations executives, along with representatives from affected business units
- whether people with responsibility or experience in dealing with potential human rights violations are available
- whether to include a senior manager or board director (this ensures that decisions made by the IM team can be authorised swiftly)
- the need for clear lines of responsibility in the IM team; it is essential to identify and agree the team leader as early as possible
Remember that all decisions (and any statements) in response to the incident should come exclusively from the IM team or its nominated spokesperson (see Who within the team should be responsible for communications with the press and/or public?).
You should also refer to any internal human rights policy or procedure in place.
