HRIA should evolve from episodic assessment to continuous due diligence, embedding human rights, FPIC and rights-holder engagement into project decisions and impact management.
How can human rights be effectively integrated into environmental and social impact management without losing a rights-holder-centred perspective? Drawing on project-level experience from Brazil’s electricity sector and the author's ongoing PhD research, this contribution examines AXIA Energia’s approach to integrating human rights considerations into the management of impacts affecting Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities. It focuses particularly on FPIC, community engagement, grievance and remediation, and the management of both new projects and legacy impacts. The experience supports the case for integrating human rights into broader environmental and social management: doing so can strengthen continuity, internal ownership and the influence of human rights considerations on project decisions. Yet integration also creates a risk that the distinctive principles of human rights due diligence are diluted by conventional impact assessment practices. For Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities, this tension is particularly relevant where collective rights, differentiated vulnerabilities and meaningful participation require specific approaches. Rather than choosing simply between stand-alone and integrated HRIA, this contribution argues for continuous human rights due diligence that embeds human rights and FPIC into project management while preserving the central role of rights-holders in identifying, preventing, mitigating and remedying impacts.
Pedro Villela leads Human Rights, community engagement and FPIC at AXIA Energia, the largest electric utility in Latin America, and is Vice President of ABAI, IAIA’s Brazilian chapter.