Adding Human Rights Punch to the New Lex Mercatoria: The Impact of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights on Commercial Legal Practice

Abstract

In July 2015, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, otherwise known as FIFA, announced that as a prominent part of its new reforms, it will “recognise the provisions of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights [“GPs”] and will make it compulsory for both contractual partners and those within the supply chain to comply with these provisions.”

Football is undisputedly the world’s top sport. According to its president, the FIFA “pyramid” encompasses “209 national associations,” “300 million active participants” in football, and “1.6 billion people involved directly or indirectly in the game." As a result of football’s vast global reach, this announcement will cause lawyers around the world to scramble to find out what the GPs mean as a practical matter in order to advise their clients properly. It is but one example among many of the global convergence on the GPs as the authoritative standard on business and hand human rights.