This post is part of the blog’s ongoing literature review of important works in the field of business and human rights. If you have any articles or works that you would like me to review, please let me know in the comments below. Part of the goal is to create a compendium for scholars as they research in this field.
In 2011, New York law professor Faith Stevelman wrote a law review article entitled “Global Finance, Multinationals and Human Rights: With Commentary on Backer’s Critique of the 2008 Report by John Ruggie.” In her article, Stevelman comments on the article written by Larry Catá Backer (we reviewed another of Backer’s article on the subject last week) which provided an analysis of the 2008 report of the “Protect, Respect, and Remedy” (PRR) framework. She looks at how the international community comprised of governments, trade organizations, businesses, and human rights advocates will curtail and/or deal with human rights violations on the global level. First, she discusses the PRR framework, then she comments on Backer’s treatment of it, next she looks at business and human rights questions as they relate to the legal system, and lastly, she looks at the connection between legal change and social change.
Highlights of the article include: * Her analysis of the PRR framework and how it remains an important report by Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, John Ruggie, because it delineates the necessary principles of the Human Rights Council’s goals for international businesses to adhere to human rights. The goal is to improve human rights compliance of individual business on a global scale.
- Stevelman lauds Backer for including historical background with his analysis of the PRRframework. She says that because the field of business and human rights is so new, many scholars even within the field need help contextualizing the impact of the PRR framework. Backer’s article fills this role.
- Stevelman discusses how human rights law is handicapped on different levels. According to Stevelman, problems exist on both the practical and conceptual levels. On the practical level, problems are posed with sovereignty in terms of enforcement and sanctioning power. On the conceptual level, cultural differences and divergent financial circumstances of parties prove problematic. Additionally, dealing with huge, faceless corporations can be challenging on a conceptual level when dealing with human rights offenses on the ground. Stevelman also discusses the issues with human rights law often existing in the “soft law” context.
- Stevelman suggests that the huge transformational, global shift that needs to occur in order for human rights issues to be assuaged has been and will continue to be led by concerned citizens. Governments and business leaders will have to follow suit and make a concerted effort to change situations where human rights violations take place.
A copy of Stevlman’s article can be found here.
**Image from http://www.nyls.edu/faculty/faculty_profiles/faith_stevelman
