I partner with you to make human rights work in practice
Human rights | Modern slavery | Sustainability governance | Responsible business | Collaboration
Twenty years across law, corporate leadership and advocacy. I don't just write your policies and leave. I work alongside your people to build capability, solve hard problems, and deliver impact you can stand behind.
About me
I'm Shaeron Yapp -- you can call me Shae — an independent advisor specialising in business and human rights, sustainability governance and modern slavery, based in Perth, Western Australia.
My experience
I'm a lawyer by background. I practised for a decade in Australia and the UK, including as in-house commercial counsel at the BBC and BP, and as a Senior Associate at Mayer Brown advising on international project finance and restructuring across emerging market.
For the past nine years I've held senior human rights and sustainability leadership roles at Rio Tinto, South32 and Minderoo Foundation's Walk Free initiative leading on human rights governance, supply chain due diligence and complex remediation. I've run the investigations, sat with communities and suppliers, briefed the board, and answered to regulators. I know this work from the inside.
Along the way I contributed to the development of Australia's Modern Slavery Act.
I set up and ran the Bali Process Government and Business Forum.
I co-founded the Human Rights Resources and Energy Collaborative (now 30+ mining, resources and oil and gas companies regularly meeting together to collaborate on human rights). I currently serve as an Independent Member of the Australian Attorney-General's Modern Slavery Expert Advisory Group.
After years inside big corporates, I'm doing something different: working as an independent advisor. I’m here to be a trusted pair of hands, eyes and ears for anyone who needs a little extra support. I'm not here to write your policies and leave.
My goal is to partner with you because I know the people who carry this work every day are the ones who make it real and longlasting. Investing in that capability is worth more than any document.
My approach
Culture
Lasting change is about influencing mindsets and behaviours, not just writing policies and procedures.
The difference between what looks good and what does good.
Creativity
Human rights work doesn't have to look like a hundred-page PDF nobody reads. I work with you to find better, more creative ways to design, operationalise and evaluate human rights due diligence — communicating this work so people actually engage with it.
Fresh thinking for age-old problems.
Collaboration
The best outcomes in this field are built through collaboration.
You get a colleague and a supporter - not just a report.
Capability
This work isn't about doing it for people — it's about bringing them on the journey. I've delivered training from e-modules, large events, coaching and mentoring, executive briefings, and in-field training on operating mine sites — telling real stories that connect the human side to practical business outcomes.
No theory-heavy sessions. Practical skills, changed mindsets, better decisions.
Services
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Working alongside you to design and embed human rights due diligence that fits how your business actually runs — risk assessment, investigations, remediation, grievance management, supplier engagement and modern slavery reporting. I don't hand over a framework and leave; I help you build one you can operationalise.
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As a practitioner who has led human rights impact assessments, audits, and assurance programmes globally, I bring the legal rigour and the pragmatism of someone who has sat on both sides of the table. My work gives organisations a clear-eyed view of their salient human rights risks and the credible, defensible evidence base needed to satisfy regulators, investors, and most importantly - deliver outcomes to affected stakeholders.
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Practical, hands-on capability building, training or coaching for the people who carry this work — procurement, legal, sustainability, and operations teams. No theory-heavy workshops or academic frameworks: I focus on real-life skills your team can use immediately - whether in head office, online , with your suppliers or at your operations. Human rights training is about changing mindsets and enabling better decisions.
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Designing and facilitating the conversations that move things forward and address the root causes - workshops, leadership sessions, and cross-sector collaborations. I've built collaborations and I know what it takes to work through shared solutions. I can help you establish, run or evaluate yours.
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Partnering with boards and executive teams to set direction on strategy and governance - connecting human rights to the bigger picture, meeting rising disclosure expectations, and integrating social performance into core business.