 Reflected in operational policies and procedures necessary for the respect of human rights throughout the business. 4.2. Embed the practice of comprehensive human rights due diligence The practice of human rights due diligence is based on the principle of “knowing and showing.” Knowing means that a business is aware of the impacts and risks of its operations and activities on people and communities’ rights. Showing means that with the awareness of businesses of their impacts, they publicly communicate and report the actions or policies they intend to do to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts and to remedy in case of human rights abuse. The practice of human rights due diligence helps businesses specify the aspects of human rights they need to focus on and determine the differentiated needs of the vulnerable sectors affected by their activities. For example, suppose a business learns that fewer women hold leadership positions or female employees do not receive the same wage for the same work compared to their male counterparts while assessing its impacts. In such cases, it can pursue gender-transformative policies to improve its performance on gender equality. By embedding human rights due diligence throughout their business operation, corporations are reminded of their responsibility and can guide them in fulfilling it. Figure 5: Human rights due diligence Assess actual and potential negative human rights impacts Communicate and report on performance Human rights due diligence of businesses Track and monitor performance on the findings Integrate findings and take action prevent or mitigate potential risks or address human rights abuses/ violations Human rights due diligence is an on-going process that can be broken down into four stages, as shown in Figure 5. Actively tracking their performance is crucial for businesses to show their compliance. Companies can do this through audits, using gender-disaggregated data where relevant. Methods for human rights due diligence include human rights impact assessment (HRIA) and value chain mapping. Alternatively, businesses can also refer to community-based HRIA to know the concerns of affected communities or to confirm their findings. Human rights impact assessment An HRIA allows a company to identify potential and actual human rights impacts across its value chain. Similar to Social and Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA), the mitigation hierarchy is prescribed as a) avoid adverse impacts, b) minimize adverse impact, c) restore or restitute, and d) compensate loss or damage. In most cases, this is combined with the SEIA required for all projects by government and funding institutions. However, combining both assessments tends to dilute the importance of the HRIA process. A separate process is better as it is more focused on human rights. For companies to fulfill their responsibility for gender equality, businesses should Tools for HRIA Human Rights Impact Assessment Guidance and & Toolbox, The Danish Institute for Human Rights  Community-Based Human Rights Impact Assessment: The Getting It Right Tool, International Federation of Human Rights, Oxfam America, and Rights & Democracy  Women’s Empowerment Principles Gender Gap Analysis Tool (WEPs Tool), UN Women and UN Global Compact  15