The Danish Institute for Human Rights has secured funding from the Danish International Development Agency and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency to begin the creation of the Human Rights and Business Country Risk Portal.

The Portal is the first free resource for companies to comprehensively assess and address human rights risks in their developing country operations and suppliers. The Portal aims to describe human rights risks in law and practice in more than 100 countries, and presents analysis and due diligence recommendations for private-sector actors to prevent and mitigate those risks.

The Danish Institute for Human Rights has produced private-sector Country Risk Briefings for more than 10 years, and the Portal broadens these methodologies and engagement to a wider audience and wider objectives.

The Portal is aimed at businesses, civil society, governments and multilateral institutions interested in ensuring that private-sector investment leads to genuine and lasting economic development in the developing world. Through legal analysis, statistical indicators, sector briefings and poverty reduction strategy alignment, the Portal enables all stakeholders to define the responsibilities of the private sector and engage in initiatives that have the greatest local impact.

2010:Country Risk Portal Pilot Phase
Throughout 2010, DIHR will consult stakeholders and test methodologies toward the implementation of the full Portal. The pilot process includes partner identification, expert input from international bodies and end-user needs assessments. Twenty comprehensive Country Pages will be launched on CountryRiskPortal.org in late 2010.

DIHR invites input from all parties relating to the content, administration and design of the Country Risk Portal. DIHR will contact a range of stakeholders throughout 2010 for their input on Portal developments. We look forward to developing content and methodologies with our business, institutional and human rights partners throughout the year.

For more information on the Portal or DIHR country risk methodologies, contact Mike Baab: mba@humanrights.dk