This publication identifies 10 key principles to help integrate the management  of human rights risks into contract negotiations on investment projects between host State entities and foreign business investors. It is the product of four years (2007–2011) of research and multi-stakeholder consultations under the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, Professor John Ruggie.

Early on in his mandate, the Special Representative identified investment contracts as an important instrument through which States and businesses can affect the human rights impact of business operations. In 2007 he partnered with the International Finance Corporation to compare contractual clauses that are meant to help investors mitigate the risk of changes in law—so-called stabilization clauses— across different sectors and regions and to look at their potential implications for human rights.4 It was the first empirical study of its kind. This research then served as the basis for more than three years of worldwide consultations on the human rights implications of investment contracts. The Special Representative convened formal and informal consultations and participated in other discussions in London, Johannesburg, South Africa, Marrakech, Morocco, Dakar, Paris, Washington, D.C. and other cities with business enterprises, State representatives, development organizations, private and institutional lenders and investors, civil society, academics and legal practitioners. These consultations were unprecedented in that they brought together human rights experts, negotiators and others directly involved in facilitating and supporting investment projects.