The business case for integrating human rights and labour standards in finance IvETA CHERNEvA

2012 ◽  
pp. 116-126
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Business Case ◽  
Labour Standards

scholarly journals Children’s Rights in the Indonesian Oil Palm Industry: Improving Company Respect for the Rights of the Child

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 500
Author(s):  
Stephany Iriana Pasaribu ◽  
Frank Vanclay
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Child Labor ◽  
Palm Oil ◽  
Oil Palm ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Business Case ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Social License

Although companies have many direct and indirect impacts on the lives of children, discussion of the responsibility of business to respect the rights of children has primarily focused on child labor. Using UNICEF’s Children’s Rights and Business Principles as a framework for our analysis, we considered the activities of oil palm plantation companies operating in Indonesia. Our data come from key informant interviews and reflection on two programs established to promote respect for children’s rights in the Indonesian palm oil industry: one by Pusat Kajian Perlindungan Anak (PKPA) (Center for Child Study and Protection); and one by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in conjunction with UNICEF. We considered: how plantation company activities impacted children’s lives; how companies demonstrated respect for children’s rights; and how observance of children’s rights can be improved. We discuss four problematic issues: getting company commitments to children’s rights into policy and practice; having a strong business case for respecting human rights and children’s rights; contradictory objectives within companies; and complexities around children in the workplace. We argue that a children’s rights based approach should be applied to the activities of all organizations. This children’s rights lens is needed to overcome the invisibility of children in society and industry, and to address the root causes of human rights harms. We note that respecting children’s rights will likely contribute to getting a social license to operate and grow.

Promoting Business and Human Rights Education: Lessons from Colombia, Ukraine and Pakistan

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Anthony EWING
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Business Case ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Corporate Accountability ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Training Programmes ◽  
University Settings

Business and human rights (BHR) has been taught as an academic discipline and field of practice for thirty years.1 Since the first courses at business schools, law schools, and schools of public policy in North America and Western Europe, BHR curricula have proliferated worldwide. BHR course content has expanded to include new international standards, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs); tools for corporate accountability; 2 and examples from the growing body of corporate BHR practice. BHR pedagogy has evolved to embrace multidisciplinary teaching techniques, from business case studies to legal drafting exercises and experiential role plays.3 BHR teaching is taking place in every region, from Africa and Asia to the Middle East and Latin America. Over 350 individuals teach the subject in some form at more than 200 institutions in 45 countries.4 More than 100 universities have added BHR courses to their curricula in the past decade alone. BHR is also taught outside traditional university settings in dedicated workshops and training programmes for professionals, academics and students.5

scholarly journals Should a Human Right Discourse be Applied to Labour Standards?

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Morteza Shirzad
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Labour Rights ◽  
Comprehensive Theory ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
Public Rights ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

Whether a rights discourse should be applied to labour standards, entails addressing two issues. Firstly, what are the philosophical grounds for labour rights and whether they are human rights at all? Even if they cannot be regarded as human rights, should they be applied strategically? While, there is no single comprehensive theory identified to provide sufficient grounding for all labour rights, this paper argues, firstly, that labour rights certainly lack characteristics of universal human rights since they are time-bound and place-bound. Secondly, while recognising the relatively large strategic turn to human rights discourse by labour scholars and labour organisations, this paper argues that this is not a universally applicable strategy and in fact in some contexts application of human rights discourse is counterproductive. The paper, thus, concludes that not only deploying human rights approaches when it comes to countries authoritarian contexts are not effective, but also it is highly likely to be counterproductive, since human rights discourse needs public rights awareness public and authoritarian contexts lack this awareness.

The EU’s international trade priorities are shifting

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
Trade Deals ◽  
Trade Partners ◽  
Global Influence ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Border Adjustment

Significance From the strategy, it appears the EU no longer sees free trade deals as an end in themselves but as another instrument -- alongside tools such as Carbon Border Adjustment Measures (CBAM) and the International Procurement Instrument -- to protect the internal economy and enhance the EU’s global influence on climate change, human rights and labour standards. Impacts The EU’s increasingly protectionist trade agenda risks creating political tensions with trade partners. Closer EU-US cooperation on trade, among other areas, would weaken the prospects for stronger EU relations with China. As old industries die, the population ages and the EU moves towards digitisation, Europe could become more dependent on foreign innovation.

The EU’s engagement with business on human rights

2020 ◽  
pp. 312-342
Author(s):  
Mary E Footer
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Turn Of The Millennium ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
European Business ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Impact

Since the turn of the millennium, the European Union (EU) has sought to advance its policies on business and human rights with the aim of achieving specific outcomes on human rights protection, core labour standards, and a better alignment of European and global approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). At the heart of this endeavour lies the European Commission’s renewed strategy for CSR in its 2011 Communication. This chapter critically analyses the impact of the EU’s re-calibration of its CSR policy to allow for the fuller engagement of European business with human rights on the internal and external plane. The EU has sought to develop a ‘smart mix’ of voluntary policy measures and complementary regulatory initiatives to achieve its aims. Consequently, it has made considerable progress towards embedding business and human rights in European law and policy. However, it continues to face challenges due to its lack of competence along the whole spectrum of business-related human rights, and the transversal character of EU policy, which elicits a multidimensional response to implementation, involving a plethora of actors from government, business, and civil society.

EU-China investment deal is running out of time

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
European Council ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
Economic Ties ◽  
The Eu

Significance According to Beijing, Merkel and Macron showed their willingness to ratify quickly the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). However, opposition to the CAI is growing in Europe, with parliamentarians particularly concerned about Chinese sanctions and China’s record on human rights and labour standards. Impacts The recent European Council rejection of Macron and Merkel’s proposal on Russia suggests the two leaders’ influence in the EU is waning. The likely emergence of a right-wing government in Italy in 2022 or 2023 would see Rome hardening its position on China. Deterioration in EU-China economic ties would disproportionately hurt economies in southern Europe and Central and Eastern Europe.

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