Hoisted on their own petard? Business and human rights

Abstract

Although there is a voluminous literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR), there has been a conspicuous silence on what constitutes a socially responsible corporate stance regarding workers in situations that fall within the boundaries of internationally accepted human rights standards. Corporate statements typically avoid any discussion of what a given human right might mean in practice or whether there is some generally accepted statement of what the right means. To highlight the tension between traditional notions of CSR and emerging soft law on the human rights responsibilities of business, this paper reviews the employers' position at the 2012 International Labour Conference challenging the meaning of one International Labour Organization (ILO) core convention. This paper reviews company codes of conduct and how company reporting mechanisms relate to the ILO fundamental principles that embody human rights in the work context. In light of the United Nations (UN) Global Compact and the UN Human Rights Council's Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Ruggie framework), the paper will critique the view that ILO supervisory bodies cannot authoritatively say what a core convention means.