A Place to Stand Upon: The Development of a Human Rights Compliance Assessment for Companies1

Zusammenfassung

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This article discusses the main theoretical and conceptual challenges of defining the scope of corporate responsibilities with regard to human nghts. The article argues that it is possible to modify the human rights obligations of governments to a business context. The article then examines the methodological as well as practical limitations of existing initiatives to rewrite international human rights law for companies. Finally, the article outlines the functionality and added value of the Human Rights Compliance Assessment (HRCA) developed by the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

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Auszug

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A Place to Stand Upon: The Development of a Human Rights Compliance Assessment for Companies1

What Archimedes said of the mechanical powers, may be applied to Reason and Liberty: "Had we," said he, "a place to stand upon, we might raise the world".

Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, 1792

1. Introduction

Few companies today question their responsibilities regarding the environment. Human rights, on the other hand, have traditionally been seen as a political issue with governments as the greatest violators of rights, but also as the entities with the responsibility to protect and promote the same rights. This perspective changed dramatically during the 1990s when the publicity surrounding the operations of multinationals in poor countries brought the subject of human rights and corporate conduct into the public eye. Shell and BP, to mention a few, were accused of complicity in state-sponsored human rights violations in Nigeria and Colombia. Similarly, companies in the footwear and clothing industry, such as Levis and Nike, were heavily criticised for the exploitative working conditions of their suppliers in Asia and Latin America. The recent focus on the impact of company operations on human rights has undoubtedly been prompted by the rapid globalisation of the world economy and the rise of the human rights movement during the last decade. As the power and reach of the multinationals has increased so has the vigilance of the human rights movement resulting in strong demands for...

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