On corporate responsibility for human rights

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511808395.012

10 - On corporate responsibility for human rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2011

Edited by

Shiban Khan and

Heiko Spitzeck: Affiliation:
Universität St Gallen, Switzerland
Michael Pirson: Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Wolfgang Amann: Affiliation:
Universität St Gallen, Switzerland
Shiban Khan: Affiliation:
Universität St Gallen, Switzerland
Ernst von Kimakowitz: Affiliation:
Universität St Gallen, Switzerland

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Summary

The recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.

Preamble, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Accepting a conceptual challenge

The debate on “business and human rights” has become a central theme on the international corporate responsibility agenda. Two processes in particular have contributed to this: the discourse on the practical consequences of the two UN Global Compact principles that are specific to human rights and the work of a sub-commission of the Human Rights Commission under the chairmanship of American law professor David Weissbrodt. The result of this work, a set of “Draft Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises,” was considered to contain “useful elements and ideas” but was not accepted by the Human Rights Commission as a document with legal standing. One factor that evoked concern and disapproval for some observers was a generally negative undertone regarding the impact of corporate activities on human rights as well as impractical monitoring and verification mechanisms “already in existence or to be created”.

To overcome the deadlock that evolved from incompatible positions of different stakeholders vis à vis the draft norms, on April 20, 2005, the UN Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution on “Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Businesses,” which requested the secretary-general to appoint a “Special Representative on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Businesses.

Type: Chapter
Information: Humanism in Business , pp. 175 - 203

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511808395.012 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2009

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