UC Irvine Journal of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law

The United States is obligated to respect and protect human rights by customary international law and international human rights treaties.  Currently, no governmental agency is responsible for ensuring these obligations are met, and the government has not yet adopted a comprehensive framework to assess the impact of federal policies and programs on human rights. While various U.S. agencies conduct regular impact assessments in areas including social, economic, and environmental contexts, a similar Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) framework could be valuable. If applied systematically, HRIAs would enable the government to evaluate the human rights implications of current and proposed policies. This article provides an introduction to HRIAs and examples of their use at sub-national, national, and international levels, with the hope that these models will support federal, state, and local government officials in fulfilling their human rights obligations.