A Decade of UNGPs in India: Progressive Policy Shifts, Contested Implementation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Vasanthi SRINIVASAN ◽  
Parvathy VENKATACHALAM
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
National Guidelines ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Spheres Of Influence ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Policy Shift ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Progressive Policy ◽  
Policy Shifts

Abstract The decade of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) coincides with India’s National Voluntary Guidelines on businesses’ social, environmental, and economic responsibilities (NVGs) and the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC) – an updated version of the NVGs. Human rights are one of the core principles in both guidelines and they draw upon the ‘Protect–Respect–Remedy’ framework of the UNGPs. The NVGs and NGRBC go beyond the UNGPs by requiring organizations not only to respect human rights, but also to promote them in their spheres of influence. Several factors, however, derailed the implementation of this progressive policy shift. This article explores the challenges in implementation and calls for the multiple actors involved to work together and shape a collaborative action plan for effective implementation of the NGRBC in the next decade. The authors reiterate the need for alternative lenses to frame the responsible business agenda within developing countries through positive obligations.

scholarly journals Business and Human Rights in ASEAN: Lessons from the Palm Oil Sector in Malaysia

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Andika AB. Wahab
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Palm Oil ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Member States ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Asean Member ◽  
Guiding Principles

The release of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in 2011 aims to address gaps in human rights governance by setting a standard and corporate culture of respecting human rights. As part of the state responsibility to implement these guiding principles, some member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have already embarked preliminary steps towards establishing their respective National Action Plan on Business and Human rights (NAPBHR), while others are still lag behind. This article describes current development on business and human rights in the region. Drawing from the palm oil sector’s experience in Malaysia, this study aims to provide lessons for ASEAN member states to contemplate when developing their NAPBHR. In this article, I argue that while some large palm oil companies have shown modest progress in realizing their human rights obligation, challenges emerge in many forms including the lack of leadership, collaboration and ambition to steer and scale up industry transformation on human rights across supply chain. Equally important, challenges around certification scheme depict that it is not the only solution in persuading respect to human rights. Meaningful values transfer often overlooked in certification practice resulting in typical "ticking the audit box" exercise without understanding principles behind it. As such, the development of NAPBHR among the ASEAN member states should reflect on these reality and challenges.

scholarly journals The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: National Action Plans Toward Corporation Responsibility

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ni Ketut Supasti Dharmawan ◽  
Desak Putu Dewi Kasih ◽  
I Gede Agus Kurniawan ◽  
Putu Aras Samsithawrati
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Legal Method ◽  
Global Standards ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
The Government

As a global principal, corporations have the obligation to comply with national and international hard law of human rights, respect soft laws and global standards. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (GPs) of 2011 were unanimously endorsed by the Human Rights Council and are respected as a global standard that stipulates that corporations should respect human rights when conducting their business activities. The purpose of this paper is to examine the scope and focus of National Action Plans (NAPs) by comparing the Netherlands NAP on Human Rights (2013) is compared to the UK’s updated NAP of 2016 with the aim of providing ideas and good examples of a NAP for Indonesia. This study used normative legal method. It is considered to be a valuable lesson both for developed and developing countries that for practical matters it is highly important to create and implement a NAP for the implementation of the GPs. Fortunately, Indonesia in June 2017 has launched a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP). The burden responsibility to carry out the NAP on Business and Human Rights to corporation to be implemented strongly rests on the government authorities both central government and all levels authorities, including the local level, have the duty to implement human rights obligation, including to convince corporations that upholding the GPs will ultimately be to their benefit.

scholarly journals Educação em/para os Direitos Humanos e da Natureza: um olhar sensível em documentos brasileiros

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-230
Author(s):  
Natália de Oliveira Melo ◽  
Timothy Denis Ireland
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
National Plan ◽  
National Guidelines ◽  
Derechos Humanos ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
The Social ◽  
Egalitarian Society ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Keywords Education

A educação em/para os Direitos Humanos preocupa-se em promover uma sociedade mais justa e igualitária. A discussão contemporânea passa em inserir as questões ambientais nessas reflexões, pois temos vivido experiência que nos apontam o caos socioambiental que nos encontramos enquanto sociedade. Nesse sentido, o presente estudo analisa três documentos recentes concernentes à educação em/para os Direitos Humanos: o Plano Nacional de Direitos Humanos, na sua terceira versão, datada de 2010 (PNDH-3); o Plano Nacional de Educação em Direitos Humanos, lançado no ano de 2007 (PNEDH); e as Diretrizes Nacionais para a Educação em Direitos Humanos, do ano de 2012. Tais documentos são os principais direcionamentos para uma prática educativa dos Direitos Humanos, logo é importante perceber o lugar das questões ambientais nesses contextos. Para isso questionamos qual o lócus que as questões ambientais têm nos documentos oficiais de educação em/para os Direitos Humanos no Brasil? Objetivando assim analisar qual o lócus das questões ambientais nos documentos oficiais de educação em/para os Direitos Humanos no Brasil. Para isso nossa pesquisa propõe-se a refletir sobre como as questões ambientais são percebidas por documentos oficial da educação em/para os Direitos Humanos no Brasil como também apontar caminhos para a reflexão de uma educação em/para os Direitos Humanos pautada por questões ambientais. A pesquisa é essencialmente qualitativa, bibliográfica e documental entendendo os documentos como artefatos produzidos por humanos em determinada conjuntura para comunicar algo. Concluímos que por mais que os documentos avancem em colocar a questão ambiental em pauta há uma concepção antropocêntrica nesse movimento, sendo necessário então uma educação em/para os Direitos Humanos e da Natureza.   Educación en / para los Derechos Humanos y la Naturaleza: una mirada sensible en los documentos brasileños La educación en / para los Derechos Humanos se preocupa por promover una sociedad más justa y igualitaria . La discusión contemporánea pasa por insertar la problemática ambiental en estas reflexiones, pues hemos vivido experiencias que nos apuntan al caos socioambiental en el que nos encontramos como sociedad. En este sentido, el presente estudio analiza tres documentos recientes sobre educación en / para los Derechos Humanos: el Plan Nacional de Derechos Humanos, en su tercera versión, de 2010 (PNDH-3); el Plan Nacional de Educación en Derechos Humanos, lanzado en 2007 (PNEDH); y los Lineamientos Nacionales para la Educación en Derechos Humanos, del año 2012. Dichos documentos son los principales lineamientos para una práctica educativa en Derechos Humanos, por lo que es importante comprender el lugar de la problemática ambiental en estos contextos.¿Qué lugar tienen las cuestiones ambientales en los documentos oficiales de educación sobre / para los Derechos Humanos en Brasil? Así, con el objetivo de analizar cuál es el lugar de las cuestiones ambientales en los documentos oficiales de educación en / para los Derechos Humanos en Brasil. Para ello, nuestra investigación tiene como objetivo reflexionar sobre cómo los temas ambientales son percibidos por los documentos oficiales de educación en / para los Derechos Humanos en Brasil, así como señalar formas de reflexionar sobre una educación en / para los Derechos Humanos guiada por temas ambientales. La investigación es esencialmente cualitativa, bibliográfica y documental, entendiendo los documentos como artefactos producidos por el ser humano en una determinada coyuntura para comunicar algo. Concluimos que por mucho que avancen los documentos en poner el tema ambiental en la agenda, hay una concepción antropocéntrica en este movimiento, que requiere educación en / para los Derechos Humanos y de la Naturaleza Palabras clave: Educación. Derechos humanos. Naturaleza.   Education in / for Human Rights and Nature: a sensitive look in brazilian documents Education in Human Rights is concerned with promoting a fairer and more egalitarian society. The contemporary discussion involves inserting environmental issues in these reflections, because evidence exists which points to the social-environmental chaos that we find ourselves in as a society. In this sense, the present study analyses three recent documents concerning education in/for human rights: The National Plan of Human Rights, in its third version, dated 2010 (PNDH-3), the National Plan of Education in Human Rights, launched in 2007 (PNEDH), and the National Guidelines for Education in Human Rights, of 2012. Such documents are the main guidelines for an educational pratice of Human Rights. It is therefore important to understand the place of environmental issues in these contexts. To this end, we question what locus environmental issues have in the official education documents in/for Human Rights in Brazil? Thus, aiming to analyse the place of environmental issues in  official education documents in/for Human Rights in Brazil. For that reason, our research proposes to reflect on how environmental issues are perceived by official documents on education in/for Human Rights in Brazil as well as pointing out ways for reflections on education in/for Human Rights based on environmental issues. The research is essentially qualitative, bibliographic and documentary comprehending documents as artefacts produced by humans at a certain juncture to communicate something. We conclude that as much as the documents move forward in putting the environmental issue on the agenda there is an anthropocentric bias in this movement. Hence the need for education in/for Human Rights and Nature Keywords: Education. Human Rights. Nature.

Can Multinational Corporations be responsible for human rights violation of its outsourcee company? Response of national or international law?

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-179
Author(s):  
Alessandro Suppa ◽  
Pavel Bureš
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Corporate Law ◽  
International Economy ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Original Question ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Human Rights Violation

SummaryNowadays, an important role in the world is played by Multinational Corporations (MNCs). They hire, produce, and influence the international economy, but also, they exploit, pollute. Their business activities might have a worldwide effect on human lives. The question of the responsibility of MNCs has drawn the attention of many scholars, mainly from the study field labelled “Business and Human Rights”. The present paper does not examine the topic under the same approach. The authors aim at presenting the issue in a broader perspective, exploring the concept of due diligence both in international and corporate law. In this paper, authors strategically use the uniformity of national legislations as a possible and alternative solution to the issue. They are aware of three fundamental factors: 1) the definition of MNCs needs to be as clear as possible, so to avoid any degree of uncertainty; 2) the outsourcing phenomenon interacts with that definition; 3) in case of no possibility to include outsourcing in the definition of MNC, the original question arises in a significant way.

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