Business and Human Rights (LAWS70382)

Graduate coursework level 7Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)

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Overview

Availability(Quotas apply)
September
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The private sector represents one of the most important and daunting challenges facing human rights law and practice. As the reach and influence of companies has grown – sometimes dwarfing the states in which they operate – their impact on human rights has become impossible to ignore. Shareholder activists, NGOs, social movements, the media and governments are demanding greater transparency and reporting on human rights from a wide range of companies, from Facebook to Exxon to Walmart. The United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the multilateral banks have adopted human rights standards for companies, and a growing body of soft and hard law (domestic and international) is beginning to define the precise scope of corporate human rights obligations. This subject will explore the fast-growing field of business and human rights, highlighting the most critical legal and practical issues surrounding efforts to advance corporate responsibility and accountability.

Indicative list of principal topics:

  • The history of the business and human rights movement
  • The political and ideological challenge to applying human rights to business
  • The legal framework and institutions for corporate human rights accountability
  • The UN “Protect, Respect, Remedy” Framework and UN Guiding Principles
  • The debate around a global treaty on business and human rights
  • Multi-stakeholder initiatives and soft law human rights standards
  • Key legal challenges: effective remedies, 'non-state actors', 'sphere of influence' and 'complicity'
  • Litigating corporate human rights
  • Non-judicial advocacy strategies
  • Business and human rights case studies
  • Business and human rights in the digital economy
  • Climate change, business and human rights
  • The business management perspective on human rights and implementation challenges.

Intended learning outcomes

A student who has successfully completed this subject will:



  • Have an advanced and integrated understanding of the current legal status of human rights as they apply to businesses
  • Be aware, at an advanced level, of the workings of the key legal instruments and bodies relevant to business and human rights
  • Have a sophisticated understanding of the political, legal and practical challenges in applying human rights standards to businesses
  • Have a nuanced understanding of competing theoretical and legal approaches to setting and enforcing human rights standards regarding corporate activity
  • Be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of such approaches in practice, as they apply to specific industries and global commodity chains
  • Be able to apply general human rights principles to evaluate the conduct of companies in specific cases
  • Have a sophisticated understanding of the specific regulatory and practical challenges posed by global commodity chains and bilateral and multilateral trade treaties
  • Be able to think strategically about the different points of leverage (legal, financial, political) in promoting greater human rights accountability from companies
  • Be able to identify and critically assess the new regulatory and human rights challenges raised by the digital economy.

Last updated: 18 March 2025

Eligibility and requirements

Prerequisites

None

Corequisites

None

Non-allowed subjects

None

Recommended background knowledge

Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are taught at an advanced graduate level and requires a thorough background in common law. While efforts are made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, teaching and assessment activities are designed to give an advanced and integrated understanding of the discipline of law for legal practitioners, learners and researchers.

Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)

The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.

Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home

Last updated: 18 March 2025

Assessment

DescriptionTimingPercentage

Class participation, discussion board, and group exercises

Throughout the teaching period40%

Option 1: Take-home examination

  • 4000 words
24 - 27 October 202560%

Option 2: Research paper on a topic approved by the subject coordinator

  • 5000 words
29 October 202560%
Hurdle requirement: A minimum of 75% attendance is required.Throughout the teaching periodN/A

Additional details

Note: Students must choose assessment from the options listed above. If an option contains parts, all parts must be completed if that option is chosen.

Last updated: 18 March 2025

Quotas apply to this subject

Dates & times

  • September
    Mode of deliveryOn Campus (Parkville)
    Contact hours34
    Total time commitment150 hours
    Pre teaching start date13 August 2025
    Pre teaching requirementsPlease refer to the Reading Guide on the LMS subject page for confirmation of which resources need to be read and what other preparation is required before the teaching period commences.
    Teaching period10 September 2025 to 16 September 2025
    Last self-enrol date18 August 2025
    Census date12 September 2025
    Last date to withdraw without fail24 October 2025
    Assessment period ends28 November 2025

    September contact information

    Teaching staff:

    Phoebe Wynn-Pope (Subject Coordinator)

    For current student enquiries, contact the Law School Academic Support Office

What do these dates mean

Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:

  • Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
  • And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
       -  Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
     

    Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.

Additional delivery details

Please refer to the Melbourne Law Masters enrolment webpage for further information about re-enrolment, subject quotas and waitlists. 
Melbourne Law School may reserve places in a subject for incoming international cohorts or where a subject is core to a specialisation with limited alternate options. 

Last updated: 18 March 2025

Further information

Last updated: 18 March 2025