The Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights: From Soft to Hard Law

Abstract

This paper argues that businesses are obliged to respect human rights, from a moral perspective and considering the quasi-universal recognition of this principle of business conduct. Also, some instances of legislations within Europe requiring business to respect human rights will be flesh out to determine their level of efficiency, compared with the United Nations Guiding Principles.

Keywords: Corporate responsibility to respect human rights, United Nations Guiding Principles, human rights due diligence, corporate accountability, remedy.