Explore the questionnaire

The questionnaire has been developed through a structured process using the conceptual and methodological framework of indicators developed by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The questionnaire has been reviewed by business and human rights experts in international organisations, academics, and civil society organisations.

For more information on the methodology, go here.

Structure of the questionnaire

The questionnaire is divided into 10 thematic domains as follows:

1. Laws and regulations on business and human rights
2. Policies and guidance on business and human rights
3. State-business nexus
4. Conflict affected areas
5. Policy coherence
6. Access to remedy
7. Labour rights
8. Land
9. Environmental protection
10. Consumer protection

The first six domains include questions that primarily aim to collect data on measures taken by the State to domesticate the UNGPs; the last four themes cover traditional regulatory areas that have been increasingly framed as business and human rights topics.

The domains and the questions therein should not be considered exhaustive. For example, the questionnaire does not include questions related to taxation and/or bribery, anti-corruption or specific rights such as freedom of expression and privacy, or domains addressing exclusively certain groups at risk (such as persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities).  In selecting the themes, the aim has been to strike a reasonable balance between coverage of issues and depth of analysis to minimize the respondent burden. It is expected that future themes will be added in the future based on developments in the business and human rights field and feedback from respondents.

Download the indicators and questionnaire here.

Finding the right data

The data needed to answer the questions may be available from public authorities (i.e. laws, public policies, administrative guidelines, official statistics including court statistics, jurisprudence etc.) and other third parties such as UN human rights treaty bodies, civil society organisations, researchers, media, national human rights institutions etc. However, for certain questions, data might not be publicly available or scattered across different institutions and challenging to aggregate.  Ways to increase access to data include:

• reaching out with specific questions to various institutions and expert organisations
• submitting Freedom of Information requests to relevant public institutions
• conducting original research to generate new data on under-explored topics.

The absence of data on certain topics is an important finding in and of itself and can be used to identify future research and data collection needs and opportunities.

To ensure data validity, it is essential that specific references to sources used are included in the bespoke field labelled References. These references should be detailed enough to enable a reviewer or reader to refer to the specific document on which the response is based. Some examples of references are included below:

• Environmental Policy of Ethiopia, Article 2.3(b)
• Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Concluding Observations: Kenya, E/C.12/KEN/CO/2-5 (2016), para. 14
• Zambia Central Statistical Office, 2018, Labour Force Survey Report, p. 29.

Step by step use of the tool

1. Create an account and wait for approval. To fill in the questionnaire you need to create an account. Everybody can use this tool, but before you can start we will have to approve your account. This serves to protect the validity of the portal, and prevent spam. Take time to read the technical user guide.
2. Create your submission. When your account is approved, you will be notified that you can create your own submission. The button for this is hidden until your account has been approved.
3. Publication. When creating the submission, you are asked to indicate whether you agree with the publication of your answers in the future data portal. It is also possible to decide this later after you’ve explored the questionnaire. It is strongly encouraged that you opt for publication as one of the key objectives of the tool is to improve cross-country accessibility of business and human rights data.
4. Assign co-respondents and a reviewer.  As a Respondent, you will carry out the necessary research or document review to complete the questionnaire. You can add co-respondents from your or another organisation so that more than one individual can fill in the survey. Ideally, the co-respondents should be asked to work on select parts of the questionnaire in line with their area of expertise. For technical reasons, it is not indicated that more individuals work on the same questions at the same time.  Assigning a Reviewer is mandatory if you want to upload your data to the portal. The Reviewer must be somebody else than the Respondent and/or co-respondent but may be from the same institution. His or her role is to peer review the responses. It is important that the reviewer checks the accuracy of the response, ensures that responses include the needed specific reference, and critically assesses the reason for which certain questions were skipped. The reviewer can include his or her comments. It is only after the reviewer’s comments are addressed that the data can be submitted.  Data that has not undergone such a quality assurance and peer review cannot be published in the future data portal. It is possible to add co-respondents and reviewers even after you started filling in the questionnaire.
5. Fill in answers. Fill in your answers to the questions under each of the ten domains. Click on each domain heading to go to the data entry pages.  The questions can be answered in any order you choose.
6. Use the comment and references boxes. Below each question there is a comment and reference box. The comment box gives you the opportunity to justify/explain your answer and add clarifications/observations to contextualise the response option selected. While there is no word limit, we encourage respondents to be concise. The reference box should be used for specifying the sources that were used to answer the question (e.g. a law, a policy, statistics, academic reports, etc). Where available, include a link to the respective source. Remember to fill in references for all the answers.
7. Download your answers. You can always make a PDF of the questionnaire as you are filling it in. This function can be useful if you want to work offline, share your responses with a colleague or share it with partners that might have additional expertise regarding the topics covered.
8. Submit for review. When you have filled in all answers, you must Submit your responses for Review. Once you press the “Submit for Review” button, your designated reviewer will receive a notification that the assessment is ready for review.
9. Revise answers and re-submit. If the designated reviewer finds that some answers need revision you will receive an email. You will then need to enter the site again and edit your responses. Please submit your answers for review again by pressing the “Submit for Review” button.
10. Download final report. When all answers have been approved by the reviewer you will be able to download a final report that summarizes your responses. You can return and download a new final report at any time.

Features

Data collection

The tool features a simple interface that allows you to answer questions, invite co-respondents and learn more about business and human rights. Shown together with the questions is guidance text, related human rights norms and resources.

Review functionality

Valid data is important. Invite a colleague to review your answers. The reviewer can leave comments and mark questions as accepted or in need of revision. When the review is finished, you will receive a notification email.

Download questionnaire

At all times, you can download the questionnaire as a PDF. For instance, if you want to share with others from your organisations, or just want to work offline.  Download the questionnaire here.

Get a final report (this feature is still evolving)

After the questionnaire has been finalised and submitted, you can get a final report which includes an index score for each domain

Be part of international database with your results (this feature is still evolving)

Agree to publish your answers on this website for others to explore. Soon a data portal will be launched to allow everyone to search for country specific business and human rights data.