Description:
"...The field
covered under the title ?
business and human rights”
is vast
and
complex. It
encompasses
issues relating to
the
respective role of States and business enterprises,
which as such cover a wide diversity of matters. It may
address
issues relating to
incorporation
and functioning of corporate bodies in
domestic
jurisdictions,
the
financing
of economic activities, rules governing transnational investment,
State-owned
national
bodies that promote
and insure
export and
imports,
the securities field, and the
relationship between the State and private business
es, particularly those operating
abroad.
It touches
upon
the law of civil remedies and criminal law, and in many
countries it involves constitutional law.
While there are many actors
and
situations
that
may
exert
influence
on business
behaviour,
this report
focuses
on the
identification of
gaps in international law and its
implementation,
which are
arguably
part of
the
permissive
environment
for
businesses?
abuse of human rights.
Business
conduct
is
constrained
not
only by publicly enacted
laws and regulations,
the breach of which may be sanctioned by public authorities, but
also by a plethora of written and unwritten rules that govern economic interactions in
the market,
including
consumer preferences
and
State preferences as
a
consumer
of
businesses? goods and services. Self-regulation in the form of enterprise codes of
conduct responds
to those market incentives and can be fairly effective when
certain
conditions are in place.
However, the ICJ and many other actors have been critical of
the value of these initiatives as an effective tool for corporate accountability and have
warned against over-reliance on them.
As a form of regulation of business behaviour,
self-regulation is not the focus of this report. Moreover, multi-
stakeholder initiatives and
codes of conduct as regulatory options have been mapped out during the work carried
out by Professor
Ruggie
during his mandate as Special Representative. To
undertake
this work
again
would be duplicative and unnecessary.
For the purposes of this report, it
suffices to
restate the general consensus
that a mix of voluntary and regulatory
approaches is possible and necessary when
addressing
business
and human rights.
The objective of this report is to identify gaps in international regulation
that
could
justify the need for new international instruments.
The report
focuses
only
on
those
gaps that are:
1)
of a normative character,
in terms of
defining
the
content and scope
of
international
standards;
or
2) relate to
the effective implementation of
those
standards, including
access to an effective remedy for victims of abuse.
Significantly,
most of those issues have already been
effectively
addressed
in
various ways by
human
rights advocates, scholars and jurists.
The report
aims at recommending options to
address those normative
and implementation
gaps..."
Source/publisher:
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
Date of Publication:
2014-06-00
Date of entry:
2014-10-10
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Language:
English
Local URL:
Format:
pdf
Size:
1.58 MB