The end of the Cold War and the virtual disappearance of communism
have completely altered the world economy. The supply chains of
supermarkets and consumer goods industries have spread ever more
widely and deeply into Asia, Africa and South America, while oil,
mining and financial companies, among many others, have invested
heavily in countries that were previously denied to them by
political or ideological barriers. While companies have seized the
opportunities presented by globalisation, they have in many cases
been completely unprepared for the risks presented by their
headlong rush into these new markets. Companies have found
themselves and their business partners operating in countries where
corruption, injustice, internal conflict and human rights
violations are rife. An increasingly alert and critical world has
acted as watchdog, highlighting corporate malpractice and the links
between corporations and repressive regimes. It has increasingly
been argued that companies have responsibilities for the protection
and promotion of human rights. These arguments are, at least to
some extent, accepted by companies. Yet, despite the increasing use
of human rights language in public policy discourses, the
expectations of companies remain unclear. That is, what are the
ethical imperatives? What are the legal expectations? How far does
responsibility extend? What can companies actually do in practice?
The debate is further complicated by the range of actors
(companies, governments, international institutions, local
communities, non-governmental organisations [NGOs], trade unions,
consumers) involved; by debates around free trade versus and fair
trade; by the discussion of the specific role of governments; and
by questions about the relative merits of regulation and
self-regulation. Business and Human Rights provides an analysis of
the relationship between companies and human rights in the context
of globalisation. The analysis is in two parts. The first maps the
reasons (financial, ethical, regulatory) why human rights have
become a business issue. However, simply because there are reasons
why companies should be concerned about human rights, this does not
say what companies should or could do. Therefore, the second part
of the book looks at the practical experiences of companies in
responding to specific human rights issues in the context of their
own operations, in their supply chains and in specific countries.
These case studies, many of which have not been previously
published or analysed from the perspective of human rights, provide
important insights into questions such as: How do companies
organise themselves to respond to human rights challenges? What
have the experiences been-positive and negative? How have companies
responded to specific situations? What are the roles and
responsibilities of other actors: government, trade unions, NGOs?
What are the limits to responsibility? In this outstanding
collection, Rory Sullivan has drawn together leading thinkers and
actors from the debate on business and human rights, to establish
how far the business and human rights debate has evolved, and
explore the many complex questions around roles, responsibilities
and solutions that remain to be answered.
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