Human Rights Provisions in General Corporate Lending

Abstract

This contribution addresses the question of how banks could implement their responsibility to respect human rights by including human rights provisions in corporate lending documentation. It first analyzes why banks care about human rights and the commercial risks human rights violations may pose to banks. It elaborates on how contractual provisions could support human rights due diligence. However, banks may be hesitant to include human rights provisions in loan documentation. That said, the contribution explains the potential of sustainability linked loans and argues this may be helpful in the human rights arena, too. It concludes by providing a global standard on human rights provisions in corporate lending.