National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights: Progress or Mirage?

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (02) ◽  
pp. 213-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Humberto CANTÚ RIVERA
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Policy Coherence ◽  
Effective Protection ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Phases Of Development ◽  
Key Policy

AbstractAs of October 2018, 21 states have adopted National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights (NAPs), with several more in different phases of development. This is an important political step to raise awareness of the importance of intragovernmental policy coherence and of the need to move forward to prevent human rights abuses linked to business activity. However, despite the global intergovernmental support to such policy strategies, the actual effectiveness of NAPs needs to be called into question: do they represent progress, or are they a mirage to block possible avenues of development? Currently existing NAPs have done little (yet) to ensure more effective protection in key policy areas, including trade and investment, state-owned enterprises, and particularly in relation to legislative developments and access to remedy. This contribution seeks to analyse the merits of developing NAPs, the importance of ensuring they become only the very first step towards a more effective protection of human rights, and to question whether their importance needs to be adjusted to what they really are: policy tools with limited effects and with a politically linked time frame.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF NATIONAL ACTION PLANS IN IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adel I. Abdullin ◽  
Alexey A. Sinyavskiy
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
International Legal Personality

"Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” are the first universally recognized global international standard in the field of human rights and business. In accordance with them, transnational corporations and other enterprises are obliged to comply with the national laws of states and respect internationally recognized human rights while carrying out their business activities. On 16 June 2011, the Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the Guidelines in its resolution 17/4, “Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Enterprises,” setting a universal standard for protecting human rights from the adverse effects of transnational corporations and other enterprises. However, in accordance with the doctrine of international law, corporations do not have an international legal personality and their obligations to respect human rights are only voluntary in nature, and therefore, the main obligation to ensure the protection of human rights lies with states. One of the ways to implement international standards in the field of business and human rights in practice is the development by States of National Action Plans. This paper is devoted, firstly, to a summary of the main ideas of the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” as an international legal standard in the field of human rights. Secondly, to consider the role of National Action Plans in the implementation of the Guidelines in EU countries. Thirdly, a review of existing practices for the implementation of these principles by EU states using National Action Plans

scholarly journals Contours of National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights in Central and Eastern Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 174-186
Author(s):  
Jernej Letnar Černič
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The Past ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Wide Range

Central and Eastern Europe has been often overseen in the debates on business and humanrights. Countries in the regions share a common history, experience and culture. Human rights andfundamental freedoms were in the past systematically and generally violated. Since democratisation,countries have suffered from a wide range of related human rights abuses. Corporations in theregions have often directly and indirectly interfered with the human rights of employees and thewider communities. Business and human rights has in the past lagged behind global developmentsalso in the light of the lack of capacity and general deficient human rights situation. This articledescribes and discusses contours of the National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights of theCzech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Georgia, Ukraine and Slovenia by examining their strengths anddeficiencies. It argues that the field of business and human rights in Central and Eastern Europe hasmade a step forward in the last decade since the adoption of the United Nations Guiding Principleson Business and Human Rights. Nonetheless, human rights should be further translated into practiceto effectively protect human dignity of rights-holders.

Human rights abuses at the limits of the law: Legal instabilities and vulnerabilities in the ‘Global War on Terror’

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
State Violence ◽  
Legal Compliance ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Global War On Terror ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Indefinite Detention ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Global War

AbstractLaw following and law breaking are often conceptualised as polar opposites. However, authorities in liberal democracies increasingly deploy a strategy of what I callplausible legalityin order to secure immunity and legitimacy for proscribed practices. Rather than ignore or suspend law, they construct legal justifications for human rights abuses and other dubious policies, obscuring the distinction between legal compliance and non-compliance. I argue this is possible because instabilities in legal rules make them vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation. By tracing American rationales for contentious ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’, indefinite detention, and ‘targeted killing’ practices in the ‘Global War on Terror’, I show that law need not always be abandoned or radically reconstituted to achieve troubling ends and that rule structures enable certain patterns of violation while limiting others. The international prohibition on torture is robust and universal, but provides vague definitions open to interpretation. Detention and lethal targeting regulations are jurisdictionally layered and contextually complex, creating loopholes and gaps. The article concludes by reflecting on implications for the protection of human rights. While law is not wholly indeterminate, human rights advocates must constantly advocate shared legal understandings that constrain state violence.

scholarly journals National Action Plans: Current Status and Future Prospects for a New Business and Human Rights Governance Tool

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire METHVEN O’BRIEN ◽  
Amol MEHRA ◽  
Sara BLACKWELL ◽  
Cathrine Bloch POULSEN-HANSEN
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
New Business

Human Rights Litigation against Multinationals in Practice

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Applicable Law ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Global North ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
Parent Companies

This book reviews the current position in this field, which has developed over the past 25 years, designed to hold multinationals to account, legally, for human rights abuses in the Global South. The authors are practising lawyers who have litigated and led prominent cases of legal significance in this field. Although the focus is on the Global North, where most of the cases have been brought—United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, France, Netherlands, and Germany—there is also a chapter on South Africa. The cases cited include claims against parent companies for harm caused by subsidiary operations, claims for corporate complicity in violations perpetrated by States, and claims arising in a supply chain context. Whilst other books have included consideration of the legal aspects of many of the cases, the focus here is on the interrelated strategic and practical, as well as legal, considerations on which viability and prospects of success depend. In addition to questions of jurisdiction, applicable law, and theories of liability, obstacles to justice concerning issues such as access to information, collective actions, witness protection, damages and costs, and funding regimes (including a specific chapter on litigation funding), and issues relating to public pressure and settlement, are discussed. Although most of the authors act for victims, there is a substantial chapter providing the perspectives of business. Since this area of litigation has developed concurrently with, and has formed part of, the rapidly mushrooming field of business and human rights, the contextual relevance of the UNGPs is considered.

Menschenrechte und transnationale Unternehmen

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Brune
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Good Position ◽  
Political Actor ◽  
The Public ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Transnational Companies ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Transnationale Unternehmen

What is the responsibility of corporations in terms of human rights? This question is of concern to academia, the public and also currently to businesses. The UN Framework for Business and Human Rights suggests that companies should respect human rights as much as possible in their business activities, while states are obliged to protect human rights. In practice, this theoretical division of labour leads to problems, in particular, in areas where institutional protection of human rights is not guaranteed, i.e. states do not fulfil their protection obligations. At the same time, due to globalisation-related developments, transnational companies are in a good position to negotiate with states, which makes them a kind of political actor. If these companies operate in contexts where human rights are not institutionally protected, does their responsibility go beyond respecting human rights?

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