scholarly journals The EU Whistleblowing Directive: An Opportunity for (Operationalizing) Corporate Human Rights Grievance Mechanisms?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juho Saloranta
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence ◽  
The Eu

AbstractDespite being an internationally accepted corporate social responsibility framework, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights have not managed to provide victims of corporate human rights violations with access to remedy. The European Commission has announced plans to introduce an EU-level human rights due diligence directive which may include corporate grievance mechanisms. This article considers potential synergies between the planned directive and the mechanism laid down in the Whistleblowing Directive. Three issues are highlighted. First, stakeholders usually face retaliation after making a complaint about human rights abuses in a company’s operations. By setting formal levels of protection against retaliation, the Whistleblowing Directive offers a regulatory framework to change this reality. Second, conducting effective human rights due diligence must be based on meaningful consultation with all relevant stakeholders. If companies approach this issue in a top-down manner using auditing firms, they risk non-compliance with human rights due diligence requirements. Therefore, the legislation should include corporate grievance mechanisms to match remedies with victims’ expectations. Third, in terms of corporate grievance mechanisms, victims often lack resources to participate in them in a fair and respectful manner. This requires EU Member States to use their legislative power to lay down regulations that effectively enhance cooperation and coordination with independent monitoring bodies. To enhance the development as to access to remedy, the Whistleblowing Directive offers synergies through which to achieve greater accessibility, transparency, and victim empowerment. Corporate grievance mechanisms, facilitated by the Whistleblowing Directive, could take this a step further.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTING HUMAN RIGHTS DUE DILIGENCE THROUGH CORPORATE CIVIL LIABILITY

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 789-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Bueno ◽  
Claire Bright
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Liability ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Liability ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

AbstractSince the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights the relationship between human rights due diligence (HRDD) and corporate liability has been a source of legal uncertainty. In order to clarify this relationship, this article compares and contrasts civil liability provisions aiming at implementing HRDD. It explains the legal liability mechanisms in the draft Treaty on Business and Human Rights and in domestic mandatory HRDD legislation and initiatives such as the French Duty of Vigilance Law and the Swiss Responsible Business Initiative. It compares these developments with the emerging case law on parent company and supply chain liability for human rights abuses. It explores the potentially perverse effects that certain civil liability provisions and court decisions might have on companies’ practices. Finally, it makes recommendations for the design of effective liability mechanisms to implement HRDD.

scholarly journals “Just Business” – Is the Current Regulatory Framework an Adequate Solution to Human Rights Abuses by Transnational Corporations?

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-558
Author(s):  
Benny Santoso
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Regulatory Instruments ◽  
The Media ◽  
Uncritical Acceptance ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

Parallel to exponential proliferation and ever-increasing allegations of human rights violations by transnational corporations, the sparks produced by the friction between the normatively distinct disciplines of business and human rights have invited scrutiny across the media, academia, and industries alike. Given the fact that regulatory capacities of home and host states have evidenced an inability to keep pace with the developments, concerted efforts at the international level are imperative. By constructing its own benchmark of adequacy with reference to regulatory instruments' underlying objectives, this Article explores whether the existing regulatory framework is adequate, with a particular focus on the UN Framework and UN Guiding Principles—currently the most robust regime yet. The Article's analysis centers on (1) the terminologies utilized, (2) the human rights due diligence mechanism, and (3) access to remedies requirements, to reveal their inherent inadequacy with the hope of warning against uncritical acceptance and to inform future developments.

scholarly journals Rise of Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence: A Beacon of Hope or a Double-Edge Sword?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Gabriela QUIJANO ◽  
Carlos LOPEZ
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Double Edge ◽  
The Status ◽  
Legislative Proposals ◽  
Double Edge Sword ◽  
John Ruggie ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

Abstract This article discusses the evolution, current trends, limitations and controversies around the understanding and practice of human rights due diligence (HRDD), a concept developed in the course of the work of United Nations (UN)-mandate holder, John Ruggie, and enshrined in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. While the concept has gathered broad acceptance and a growing number of legislative proposals are seeking to entrench it in law, significant differences of opinion exist among stakeholders as to its nature, objectives and relationship, if any, with legal liability. These differing understandings are at play in a contest to shape future legislation. Some of these carry significant risks for rights-holders, notably the risk of outcome being superseded by process and superficial, compliance-oriented HRDD prevailing in the law or in its interpretation and practice. As legislative efforts continue, the authors warn against the risk of hollow laws which do little to change the status quo or, even worse, inadvertently provide a tool to further impunity for business-related human rights abuses.

Corporate Liability Design for Human Rights Abuses: Individual and Entity Liability for Due Diligence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
Corporate Liability ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence ◽  
Individual Human

Abstract In this article, I critically review the economic theory of corporate liability design, focusing on the allocation of liability between a corporation and its individual human agents. I apply this theory to transnational commercial contexts where human rights abuses occur and assess the likely efficacy of some putative liability regimes, including regimes requiring corporations to undertake human rights due diligence throughout their global supply chains. I advance a set of general considerations justifying the efficacy of due diligence in relation to alternative liability regimes. I argue, however, that due diligence regimes will likely under-deter severe human rights abuses unless they are supported by substantial entity-level sanctions and, in at least some cases, by supplementary liability for individual executives. The analysis has significant policy implications for current national and international efforts to enforce human rights norms against corporations.

scholarly journals The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implications for Corporate Social Responsibility Research

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Andreas RASCHE ◽  
Sandra WADDOCK
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Un Global Compact ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Institutional Infrastructure ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Corporate Social

Abstract This article presents a review of the literature on the United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGPs) for the purpose of situating the UNGPs in the voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) infrastructure. We identify four key themes that underlie the debate: (1) a critical assessment of the UNGPs, (2) their application to different sectors, (3) a discussion of how to embed key aspects of the UNGPs into national and regional contexts, and (4) reflections on the role of due diligence. We discuss these themes and outline some practical and theoretical take-away messages. Our review highlights some similarities and differences to the discussion of voluntary initiatives in the field of CSR, especially the UN Global Compact. Our discussion helps to understand how the UNGPs are situated in the voluntary institutional infrastructure for CSR. Finally, we show how the theoretical and practical discourse on the UNGPs can be further advanced.

scholarly journals When Rights Enter the CSR Field: British Firms’ Engagement with Human Rights and the UN Guiding Principles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvise Favotto ◽  
Kelly Kollman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Global Markets ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
New Governance ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Market Competitiveness ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Corporate Social

AbstractThe adoption of the Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights by the United Nations (UNGPs) in 2011 created a new governance instrument aimed at improving the promotion of human rights by business enterprises. While reaffirming states duties to uphold human rights in law, the UNGPs called on firms to promote the realization of human rights within global markets. The UNGPs thus have sought to embed human rights more firmly within the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and to use CSR practices to improve corporate human rights accountability. In this paper, we explore how this incorporation of human rights into the CSR field has affected the business practices and public commitments British firms have made to promote human rights. We analyse the CSR reports published by the 50 largest British firms over a 20-year period starting in the late 1990s and interview senior CSR managers of these firms. We find that these firms have expanded how they articulate their responsibility for human rights over time. These commitments however remain largely focused on improving management practices such as due diligence and remediation procedures. Firms are often both vague and selective about which substantive human rights they engage with in light of their concerns about their market competitiveness and broader legitimacy. These outcomes suggest that, while firms cannot completely resist the normative pressures exerted by the CSR field, they retain significant resources and agency in translating such pressure into concrete practices.

From a Stark Utopia to Everyday Utopias

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 575-606
Author(s):  
Michelle Staggs Kelsall
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Karl Polanyi ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

This article considers the emergence of the Business and Human Rights agenda at the United Nations (UN). It argues that the agenda can be seen as an example of the UN Human Rights Council attempting to institutionalise everyday utopias within an emerging global public domain. Utilising the concept of embedded pragmatism and tracing the underlying rationale for the emergence of the agenda to the work of Karl Polanyi, the article argues that the Business and Human Rights agenda seeks to institutionalise human rights due diligence processes within transnational corporations in order to create a pragmatic alternative to the stark utopia of laissez-faire liberal markets. It then provides an analytical account of the implications of human rights due diligence for the modes and techniques business utilises to assess human rights harm. It argues that due to the constraints imposed by the concept of embedded pragmatism and the normative indeterminacy of human rights, the Business and Human Rights agenda risks instituting human rights within the corporation through modes and techniques that maintain human rights as a language of crisis, rather than creating the space for novel, everyday utopias to emerge.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document