Businesses' Impacts on Human Rights

17 Pages Posted: 9 Dec 2022

Date Written: November 11, 2022

Abstract

For businesses to effectively develop a framework for the relationship between their day-to-day operational activities and human rights, it is helpful and necessary to step back and consider the impacts of those activities on fundamental human rights. More and more businesses, sensitive to the criticisms of corporate social responsibility as being little more than a self-serving marketing activity, are taking a hard look at their activities through a human rights lens and focusing on their impact vis-à-vis specific rights such as adequate standards of living, just and favorable working conditions, healthy environment, non-discrimination and protection of vulnerable groups. Another method for connecting business activities to human rights impacts is to sort by reference to common business functions including human resources, health and safety, procurement and product safety. Businesses can also orient their stakeholder relationships and engagement to the core human rights issues that are most relevant to the members of each of the stakeholder groups (e.g., relationships with workers should conform to their human rights to freedom of association, health, an adequate standard of living, and just and favorable conditions of work, and their rights not to be subjected to slavery or forced labor). Finally, the wave of globalization that has occurred over the last several decades has led to calls to expand the human rights duties of businesses to include adverse human rights impacts resulting from their involvement in business relationships with other parties.

Keywords: human rights, CSR, business and human rights

Suggested Citation

Gutterman, Alan, Businesses' Impacts on Human Rights (November 11, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4275246 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4275246

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