The Equator Principles and Human Rights Due Diligence Towards a Positive and Leverage-Based Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel WWrsddrfer
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Equator Principles ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

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 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 YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT: WHAT ROLE CAN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) PLAY IN CURBING THIS SOCIAL ILL IN SWAZILAND (ESWATINI) AND SOUTH AFRICA?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simangele D. Mavundla
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
International Law ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
Youth Employment ◽  
African Youth ◽  
Corporate Social

This profound academic opinion advocates for youth employment by clearly arguing that even though the African Youth Charter (AYC) is not binding on states in as much as on corporates/businesses, at international law these same corporates/businesses have a role to play in ensuring that youth unemployment is curbed through invoking Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It will be argued that CSR is no longer only associated with philanthropy, but it is now part and parcel of promoting and protecting human rights in communities where businesses operate, such that they cannot turn a blind eye to social ills such as youth unemployment.

Media, Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility

2017 ◽  
pp. 189-206
Author(s):  
Scott Downman ◽  
Kasun Ubayasiri
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Corporate Social

scholarly journals Ground-Breaking? An Empirical Assessment of the Draft Business and Human Rights Treaty

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 179-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tori Loven Kirkebø ◽  
Malcolm Langford
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Empirical Assessment ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Empirical Methodology

In this essay, we examine empirically whether the revised draft of the business and human rights (BHR) treaty is a normative advance on the existing jungle of global instruments. Since the 1970s, almost one hundred global corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards have been adopted, half of them addressing human rights. See Figure 1 from our global CSR database, below. What is novel about the current treaty-drafting process within the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) is that it aims to develop a comprehensive standard that would hold states legally accountable for regulating business. The question is whether this is possible. Drawing on our work on the “commitment curve,” we begin theoretically and point out why one should hold modest expectations about the process and treat strong text with skepticism as much as celebration. Using an empirical methodology, we then compare the HRC's Revised Draft Legally Binding Instrument (Revised Draft LBI) with existing standards, and find that while the draft contains a healthy dose of incremental pragmatism, its significant advances require a degree of circumspection about its strengths and prospects.

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