Abstract
Complex multi-actors and multi-level governance structures have emerged in areas that were traditional exclusive preserve of the State and treaty-making. The adoption of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) affirmed a corporate responsibility to respect human rights to be implemented through human rights due diligence (HRDD), i.e. via management processes. By design, the open-ended character of the Principles generated the emergence of other soft instruments offering guidance to corporations in structuring HRDD. This contribution conceptualises the UNGPs from the perspective of regulation as a principles-based exercise in polycentric governance reliant on regulatory intermediaries for their interpretation. It subsequently assesses the potential role of various sui generis normative instruments in providing interpretation to the UNGPs and, specifically, how the presence of an additional layer of interpretative material contributes to the institutionalisation of responsible corporate conduct. The analysis of instruments drafted by international, nongovernmental and business organisations reveals both a decentralising tension between different intermediaries due to disagreements concerning the precise extent of corporate human rights responsibilities, as well as attempts to centralise the interpretation of the UNGPs. The paper concludes by warranting some caution towards the employment of polycentric governance regimes and their lack of centralised interpretive authority in this domain of international law.
Highlights
The unanimous adoption by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council of the Respect, Protect, Remedy Framework[1] designed by Harvard Professor John Ruggie, and its consequent operationalisation in the almost universally acclaimed United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP),[2] illustrate the pivotal role that both informal norm-making processes[3] and private actors, including single corporations, have acquired in international law.[4]
The adoption of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) affirmed a corporate responsibility to respect human rights to be implemented through human rights due diligence (HRDD), ie via management processes
This contribution conceptualises the UNGP from the perspective of regulation as a principles-based exercise in polycentric governance reliant on regulatory intermediaries for interpretation. It assesses the role of various sui generis normative instruments in providing interpretation to the UNGP and, how the presence of an additional layer of interpretative material contributes to the institutionalisation of responsible corporate conduct
Summary
The unanimous adoption by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council of the Respect, Protect, Remedy Framework[1] designed by Harvard Professor John Ruggie, and its consequent operationalisation in the almost universally acclaimed United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP),[2] illustrate the pivotal role that both informal norm-making processes[3] and private actors, including single corporations, have acquired in international law.[4]. This article analyses how selected actors, such as international organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and business associations, that have been formally and informally called on to implement and give meaning to the general principles in the UNGP and the boundaries of HRDD, have interpreted and transposed them into standards, guidelines and best practices It explores the conditions and the processes through which the corporate responsibility to respect human rights is formed.[19] It begins by sketching a framework for understanding the UNGP based on polycentric regulation, principles-based regulation and management-based regulation. This article suggests that ‘centralised’ forms of interpretation—more in line with international law instruments—are necessary for the establishment of a corporate responsibility to respect It will consider whether more centralised interpretative approaches are already emerging as a result of the process to adopt a binding treaty on Business and Human Rights which is currently taking place.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
