Joanne Bauer, one of the academics who is very active in the business and human rights field, spent last semester in Germany, analyzing business and human rights issues.
Her thoughts and perspective on this can be found here.
A List of Business and Human Rights Publications in the US Legal Academcy
I have often bemoaned that US legal academics are way behind in the field of business and human rights research. And, while that is still true, it looks like we are finally trying to close the gap. As anecdotal proof, I offer the following:
Each year the Corporate Practice Commentator annually polls law teachers for top ten articles in the field of corporate and securities law. As part of the process, Robert Thompson, editor for the periodical, provides business law faculty with a list of “corporate and securities articles published and indexed during the calendar year” (in the Current Index of Legal Periodicals). The Current list has close to 600 articles on it. Of those articles, we have eleven that explicitly discuss business and human rights issues. While that might not seem like a lot (and is probably not all of the BHR articles published – in fact if you know of some, please email me and I’ll include it), it is certainly more than I’ve seen in the past and as one small indicator of where we are, I find it heartening nonetheless.
In fact, it’s inspired me to do this each time the list comes out. Hopefully, the numbers will keep on rising.
Why Every Corporation needs a code of conduct...
... and why it should be based on Int’l Human Rights Principles – A Case Study from West Virginia.
This week, I watched a third of the people in my state go without water.
I had friends who came up to Morgantown to take showers and pack their cars with water to return to others who were less fortunate.
New Publications - Clifford Chance on the UK National Action Plan
A Word on National Action Plans:
National Action Plans (or NAPs) are designs put together by States for ways in which to implement the UN Guiding Principles and the three pillar framework on which their built. Under the GPs, States are reminded that they have the duty to protect their citizens from business related human rights violations. NAPs are meant to address the specific types of harms that can occur when businesses have negative human rights impacts in their community.
The beauty of briefing notes like the one provided by Clifford Chance, is that their timely – case in point: the plan was announced by the UK government on September 4, 2013. Clifford Chance published its briefing note on September 5th. Obviously, that can come at a cost – usually for in-depth analysis.The note is no exception – providing a very descriptive and “straight to point” report of the plan. It discusses the UK’s endorsement of the GPs and also discusses how the NAP includes the UK government’s encouragement for all “business enterprises … to emphasise the importance of respect for human rights to their UK and overseas suppliers.”
Other major points of the NAP discussed in the note, include:
