Business & human rights glossary
Definitions and expert context for buyers, practitioners and leadership teams.
This glossary explains terms you will meet in human rights due diligence, responsible sourcing and social impact work. Each entry combines a plain-language definition with Claire Lynch Consulting’s practical commentary for business readers. It is educational context for buyers and practitioners — not legal advice, and not a substitute for counsel on your specific obligations.
- Human rights due diligence (HRDD)
- How organisations identify, assess, prioritise, act on, monitor and report human rights risks and impacts in operations and supply chains.
- Human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD)
- Due diligence that addresses human rights and environmental risks together across value chains.
- UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs)
- The global framework of protect, respect and remedy that underpins modern business and human rights practice.
- Modern slavery
- An umbrella term for severe exploitation including trafficking, debt bondage, forced labour and related abuses.
- Forced labour
- Work extracted under threat or coercion — the most common form of modern slavery in global supply chains.
- Responsible sourcing
- Embedding social sustainability into how goods and services are bought, not only how suppliers are audited.
- Social impact measurement
- Planning and measuring how activities affect workers and communities, using robust frameworks and evidence.
- Stakeholder engagement
- Bringing internal teams and external partners into shared understanding and action on human rights issues.
- Risk-based prioritisation
- Ordering scarce HRDD effort by severity for people, rather than by convenience or audit coverage alone.
- Theory of Change
- A structured account of how activities are expected to lead to positive social change — the foundation for measurement.
- Responsible purchasing practices
- Procurement behaviours — lead times, costing, forecasting, payment — that shape conditions for workers upstream.
- Grievance mechanism
- Channels for people to raise concerns and seek remedy when business-related harm occurs or is at risk.
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