Business and Human Rights in Europe: International Law Challenges (Foreword)

Abstract

This book, through various differently oriented chapters, tries to give an insight on how the European Union and its multilevel model of governance must try to strike a balance between diverging interests and priorities. In particular, the EU and the European states (including the CoE’s Members) should implement all possible actions to protect individuals’ dignity, along with other important sustainable community priorities such as public health, sustainable development and the protection of the environment, social values, and fundamental freedoms. At the same time the regulations and practices should be able to build-up an appropriate business environment that is sufficiently friendly to corporate activity to permit companies to produce growth and create new job opportunities, without affecting any of the individual substantial rights and liberties.
The book contains chapters providing an overview and comparison of different existing practices with constructive suggestions for future policy-making, as well as chapters dealing with more specific issues related to business and human rights.

Overall, this book attempts not only to summarize the outcomes of the most intensely debated challenges; it also tries to provide constructive criticism and valuable suggestions for the future for policymakers and legislators to move forward. Business and human rights hold many complex and intricate relations, as well as the interests of subjects who do not have an equal social and legal position. All these diverging values and opposing concerns require a very delicate and diplomatic approach in order to bring clarity and binding security for all the involved stakeholders. Nevertheless, the future outlook of the field looks promising, mainly due to the large amount of documents, frameworks, opinions, and bilateral agreements, but also thanks to the incessant and sometimes constructively obstinate activity of institutions, and national and international courts. This book has the potential to also be one of the sources for fostering incremental positive development in order to consolidate more human conditions and values in the global economy, free-trade and business, which should be primarily for humans. Not only for the privileged ones, but for all human beings.

Keywords: Business, Human Rights, Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, Corporate Accountability, International Law, Europe, European Law, Sustainable Development, UN Guiding Principles, ECHR, Public Procurement, Developing Countries, Supply Chains, Due Diligence, Duty of Vigilance, Liability, Remedies

JEL Classification: Q40, Q48, Q50, Q56, Q58, Q34, Q37, Q32, Q23, Q24, Q25, Q27, K33, K32, Q17, Q18