Submission for U.S. National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct regarding the U.S. Agency for International Development

This statement, submitted by the Center for International Environmental Law and other organizations to the U.S. Secretary of State, provides recommendations for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to better align its operations with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

• The authors argue that USAID lacks clarity on how to operationalize human rights due diligence into concrete social and environmental standards and processes, despite existing policy statements on human rights and gender equality.
• The document recommends that USAID adopt a specific mitigation hierarchy for human rights: first preventing violations and avoiding adverse impacts; second, minimizing impacts that cannot be avoided; third, restoring or restituting residual impacts; and fourth, providing other acceptable remedies.
• There is a reported lack of transparency regarding the criteria USAID's System for Award Management uses to determine partner eligibility for public-private partnerships (PPPs), specifically whether a partner's history of human rights disputes or cooperation with non-judicial mechanisms is considered.
• The submission asserts that USAID's current environmental impact assessments are insufficient because they do not adequately capture social impacts and human rights risks, and recommends the mandatory use of comprehensive Social Impact Assessments (SIAs).
• The authors highlight a deficiency in monitoring and evaluation (M&E), noting that USAID often lacks core metrics for human rights and relies too heavily on private sector partners to monitor their own performance, which creates a conflict of interest.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2015). Submission for U.S. National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct regarding the U.S. Agency for International Development. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/NAP-submission_USAID_Aug2015.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Submission for U.S. National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct regarding the U.S. Agency for International Development. 2015. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/NAP-submission_USAID_Aug2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Submission for U.S. National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct regarding the U.S. Agency for International Development |date=10 August 2015 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/NAP-submission_USAID_Aug2015.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2015submission, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Submission for U.S. National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct regarding the U.S. Agency for International Development}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2015}, month = aug, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/NAP-submission_USAID_Aug2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }