Incorporated in February of 2008, NomoGaia was created at a moment when human rights and corporate social responsibility were acquiring new meanings. “Business” had come to include considerations of human rights and social well-being where projects were being erected.

Corporations began willingly joining human rights initiatives. Some four thousand companies signed on to the United Nations’ Global Compact. The Business Leaders for International Human Rights group (BLIHR), led by 13 multinational corporations, created its own guide for integrating human rights into business management.

Still other initiatives developed within specific industries:  the finance sector created the Equator Principles; the retail industry developed the Ethical Trading Initiative; the extractive industry developed the Voluntary Principles for security and human rights and the Kimberley Process for tracking diamonds. These are just a few of the dozens of initiatives that sprung up.

The new responsibilities became the subject of innumerable discussions, but transparent implementation was lacking. NomoGaia was positioned to change that.

Capitalizing on our broad mandate, NomoGaia researched PR scandals and environmental protests. We examined legal, extra-legal, and voluntary mechanisms for human rights protection. We spent months in the field, meeting the people most impacted by corporations and turned to the concrete experiences corporations were having on the ground to define the terms and boundaries of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and human rights.

Experience revealed that collaborative approaches and exhaustive research can only beget rights protections when paired with a concrete means for assessment. So we have made it our work to develop such an assessment tool, communicate with company representatives, voiceless “rightsholders,” consultants, community leaders, and NGOs, and issue recommendations for respecting rights according to a tried and effective system.