Business and Human Rights (LAWS70382)

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.