scholarly journals Business and Human Rights: Rebuilding Trust for a New Social Contract (A series of events within the framework of the IV Kharkiv International Legal Forum)

2021 ◽  
pp. 284-294
Author(s):  
Olena Uvarova
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
The State ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
State Control ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

A series of events on business and human rights that took place during the IV KharkivInternational Legal Forum in September 2020 is overviewed.The central topic of the discussions is the question of the possibility (or inevitability) of a newsocial contract, where, along with society and the state, business should become a party. The business’simpact on the daily people life and even on the state itself is becoming more and more significant.Business is seen as a direct bearer of human rights responsibilities, especially in situations where the state is too weak to protect human rights, or when it comes to an area of autonomous space in whichthe state should not interfere.Society needs to develop mechanisms that would guarantee the compliance of non-state regulationestablished by business with fundamental legal values – respect for human dignity, justice, freedom,equality. The questions of the application of the requirements of the rule of law to the sphere of suchnon-state regulation, its role in the moments of democratic transformations in societies, as well ason the mechanism of “checks and balances” in a situation when business is outside state control areactualized. Business responsibilities in situations of global dangers should be the subject of an analysisas well. Corporate responsibility to respect human rights, human rights due diligence, non-stateremedies to protect human rights – these and other concepts that are becoming an integral part oflegal practice today require rethinking from legal theory.Scientists, representatives of government entities and business, civil society organizations from30 countries took part in the events.

Creating a Human Rights Framework for Mapping and Addressing Corporate Tax Abuses

2019 ◽  
pp. 385-408
Author(s):  
Matti Kohonen ◽  
Radhika Sarin ◽  
Troels Boerrild ◽  
Ewan Livingston
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
The State ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Corporate Personhood ◽  
Business Partners ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Decisions ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

This chapter identifies several areas of convergence between the fields of tax policy and human rights. These include the concept of the corporation as a unitary entity; the notion of extraterritorial impacts and obligations of states and corporations; and the risks of corporate personhood. These principles are all highly relevant to corporations’ human rights due diligence and risk assessment of their tax policies. Applying a business and human rights perspective to international tax law can clarify responsibilities of companies toward their other stakeholders as well as their relationship with subsidiaries and business partners in terms of responsible tax conduct. The chapter then explores two dimensions of the human rights impacts of tax-related corporate decisions: impacts mediated by the state and impacts not mediated by the state.

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.

scholarly journals Gender Component of Internal Displacement in Ukraine: A Case of Business (In)Capability to Localize Human Rights Impact Assessment

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Ganna Khrystova ◽  
Olena Uvarova
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Internal Displacement ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Critical Step ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Impact Assessment ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

Human rights due diligence (HRDD) has become the buzzword of much of the advocacy and work today around business and human rights.1 It is almost commonplace that companies have the responsibility to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address these adverse human rights impacts as part of their ongoing HRDD processes, in line with the UNGPs.2 The assessment of human rights impacts (HRIA) is a critical step in this process.3

scholarly journals Outlining the Case for a Common Law Duty of Care of Business to Exercise Human Rights Due Diligence

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doug CASSEL
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
A Company ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

AbstractThis article outlines the case for a business duty of care to exercise human rights due diligence, judicially enforceable in common law countries by tort suits for negligence brought by persons whose potential injuries were reasonably foreseeable. A parent company’s duty of care would extend to the human rights impacts of all entities in the enterprise, including subsidiaries. A company would not be liable for breach of the duty of care if it proves that it reasonably exercised due diligence as set forth in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. On the other hand, a company’s failure to exercise due diligence would create a rebuttable presumption of causation and hence liability. A company could then avoid liability only by carrying its burden to prove that the risk of the human rights violations was not reasonably foreseeable, or that the damages would have resulted even if the company had exercised due diligence.

scholarly journals Human Rights Due Diligence as Risk Management: Social Risk Versus Human Rights Risk

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn FASTERLING
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Strategy ◽  
Risk Identification ◽  
Social Risk ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Risk Management Process ◽  
Process Risk ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

AbstractThe UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights endorse a risk management perspective of human rights due diligence, which may create ambiguities with regard to the nature of risk and the objectives of risk management. By ‘human rights risk’ we understand a business enterprise’s potential adverse human rights impacts. Human rights risk can be contrasted to an enterprise’s ‘social risk’ which refers to the actual and potential leverage that people or groups of people with a negative perception of corporate activity have on the business enterprise’s value.This article puts forward the argument that due diligence in respect of human rights risk is conceptually incompatible with the management of social risk, because social risk management and human rights due diligence vary at each step of the risk management process (risk identification, risk measurement and assessment, risk reduction measures). To resolve this incompatibility, an effective integration of human rights due diligence processes into corporate risk management systems would require an elevation of human rights respect to a corporate goal that determines corporate strategy.

scholarly journals Business, Human Rights and Climate Due Diligence: Understanding the Responsibility of Banks

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8391
Author(s):  
Chiara Macchi ◽  
Nadia Bernaz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Normative Standard ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

Under the 2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), banks, like all businesses, have a responsibility to respect human rights and to carry out human rights due diligence. Although climate due diligence is not explicitly included in the UNGPs, tackling an enterprise’s direct and indirect climate change impacts is arguably a dimension of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights and should form part of the human rights due diligence process. At present, it is unclear how such responsibility applies to banks, whose contribution to climate change is mostly indirect. This article addresses the research question: how should the law be interpreted to form a coherent climate due diligence standard for banks? To address it, the article first maps out the climate responsibility of banks under international soft law standards and assesses privately developed guidance. It then elucidates the emerging concept of climate due diligence, reading climate change responsibilities into the now well-established corporate responsibility to respect human rights as authoritatively elaborated in the UNGPs. Finally, it explains how such normative standard applies to banks and unpacks the key elements that a bank’s climate due diligence process should include.

scholarly journals Respecting Human Rights in Conflict Regions: How to Avoid the ‘Conflict Spiral’

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas GRAF ◽  
Andrea IFF
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Business Practice ◽  
Conflict Analysis ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Established Method ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Due Diligence

AbstractThis article introduces a novel way in which human rights due diligence can be ‘enhanced’ to respond to business and human rights challenges specific to conflict affected areas. It makes two key arguments. First, it claims that a crucial and often neglected factor for understanding human rights risks in conflict affected areas is that businesses face escalating and largely unpredictable human rights risks once they become involved in conflict. Second, the article shows how integrating aspects of the well-established method of conflict sensitive business practice into human rights due diligence can help companies address this challenge. For instance, companies should include a conflict analysis in human rights impact assessments and systematically identify and address their actual or potential impacts on conflict. This article provides support to a UN Working Group proposal for the integration of conflict sensitive business practices into human rights due diligence.

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