"This book is about corporate social responsibility and business & human rights. It discusses international law and how the emerging litigation thereof."--

This book investigates how human rights law can be applied to corporate entities. To date there have been insufficient international legal mechanisms to bring corporations to justice for their misconduct abroad. The book argues that rather than trying to solve the problem locally, an international approach to corporate human rights compliance needs to be sought to prevent future corporate human rights abuses. Implementing effective and enforceable human rights compliance policies at corporate level allows businesses to prevent negative human rights impacts such as loss of revenue, high litigation costs and damage to reputation. By considering human rights to be an inherent part of their business strategy, corporations will be well equipped to meet national and regional business and human rights standards, which will inevitably be implemented in the next few years. This approach, in turn, also furthers the fundamental aim of international human rights law.

This publication is an essential guide for general counsel and law firms to the changing world of human rights and its importance for global business. The book highlights the growing relationship between human rights and global business and the developing international focus on the issue, particularly as a result of recent United Nations initiatives. Providing detailed commentary from leading international law firms, this first edition focuses on the legal accountability and due diligence responsibilities of corporates based in many of the world's most developed jurisdictions for human rights compliance by their overseas operations.

"This publication contains the 'Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework', which were developed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. The Special Representative annexed the Guiding Principles to his final report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/17/31), which also includes an introduction to the Guiding Principles and an overview of the process that led to their development. The Human Rights Council endorsed the Guiding Principles in its resolution 17/4 of 16 June 2011."--P. iv.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights and the Law examines the responsibilities of business enterprises for human rights from a legal perspective. It analyses the legal status of the ‘corporate responsibility to respect human rights’ as articulated by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). This concept currently reflects an international consensus and is promoted by the UN. The book contemplates the various founding perspectives of the UNGPs, and how the integration of notions such as ‘principled pragmatism’ and ‘polycentric governance’ within its framework provides insights into the future course of law and policy, compliance, and corporate respect for human rights. The book thus takes a global focus, examining the interaction of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), human rights, and the law in a broader global governance context. Setting out a possible future scenario for the legalization of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights that is informed by the UNGPs' founding perspectives and reflects current realities in the human rights landscape, this book will be of great interest to scholars of business ethics, international human rights law, and CSR more broadly.

This book critically evaluates the Ruggie Framework and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and investigates the normative foundations as well as the nature, extent and enforcement of corporate obligations for the realisation of human rights.

In recent years, transnational private regulations (TPRs) have gained importance in the areas of business and human rights, particularly from a consumer point of view. However, some question whether TPRs are indeed suitable normative frameworks contributing to their signatory entities’ compliance with human rights standards and effective avoidance of human rights abuses. In response to this question, this book proposes an analytical concept of effective compliance. Based on the elements identified as crucial for achieving effective compliance, it conducts an in-depth analysis of how TPRs’ normative frameworks function in practice and identifies common patterns and challenges. Such inquiry is based on an interdisciplinary methodological approach between law and sociology, seeking not only to comprehend and assess how law is systematized in theoretical terms, but also to understand how it works on the ground. This allows identification of the lack of active and effective participation of vulnerable stakeholders in the discursive processes established and governed by TPRs, such as rule-making and conformity assessment processes, as the main challenge. Based on such evidence, the book addresses the possibilities of overcoming such challenges, proposing that to fully achieve TPRs’ potential from an effective compliance point of view, legal empowerment of vulnerable groups is essential. It concludes by providing key observations and suggestions that contribute to the use of TPRs as instruments in the struggle for rights of empowered vulnerable stakeholders. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the areas of international law, transnational law, sociology of law, and human rights law.