Incorporating Rights: Strategies to Advance Corporate Accountability

by Erika George

Overview

Human rights have not been a central concern of corporate law. Corporate actors have not been a central concern of international human rights law. This book examines existing and emerging strategies that could conceivably close a global governance gap that places human rights at risk and puts commercial actors in the position of becoming complicit in human rights abuses or implicated in abuses when conducting business in emerging market economies or other complex environments. Corporate codes of conduct, sustainability reporting, and selected multi-stakeholder initiatives are presented as the building blocks of a system of strengthening "soft law" that could solidify to become binding baseline standards for better business practices. It explains the conditions that have given rise to constructive change as well as those methods and mechanisms with promise for ensuring that business enterprises incorporate human rights considerations into business operations. This book explores how capital and consumer markets could provide an additional or alternative form of enforcement to promote responsible business conduct. It provides comparative accounts of the creation of industry sector specific regulatory instruments and governance institutions arising from allegations of corporate complicity in human rights abuses after conflicts with concerned constituencies and affected communities. It considers market-based strategies to bring business practices into alignment with the responsibility to respect human rights and examines how corporate social responsibility initiatives could close the governance gap and how codes of conduct could come to regulate like real rules. It argues that regulation through information is essential to ensure that corporate conduct will be informed by human rights considerations and that business policies and practices will be implemented consistent with respect for human rights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190666736
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/17/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Erika George is the Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law at the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law and directs the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. She teaches constitutional law, international human rights law, international environmental law, international business transactions, international trade and seminars on business and human rights, inequality, and corporate citizenship and sustainability. She was the Interim Director of the University's Tanner Center for Human Rights and the University's 2018-2019 Presidential Leadership Fellow. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and serves on the board of the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights. She earned her B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago and her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she served as Articles Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. She also holds an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

Introduction Part I: Context and Challenges: International Law, Corporate Law, and Responsibility for Human Rights Risks Chapter 1: International Law, Corporate Law, and Governance Gaps Chapter 2: Global Policy Initiatives to Regulate Business Responsibility and Human Rights Chapter 3: Human Rights Conflicts and the Creation of Corporate Responsibility Collaborations Part II : Change: Human Rights, Corporate Responsibility Codes and Compliance with Commitments Chapter 4: Information and Accountability: Regulating Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights through Ranking and Reporting Chapter 5: Competition, Choice, and Change: Activist Investors and Concerned Consumers as Ethical Enforcement Agents Chapter 6: From Voluntary to Obligatory: Corporate Reporting and Codes of Conduct to Promote Respect for Human Rights Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

"The book makes a great contribution by combining an illuminated account of the past decade of important changes with a balanced assessment that there is still much more to be done." — Elizabeth Pollman, Corporate Law Jotwell

"If I were still a law professor I would immediately design a course around this book. Erika George has written a book that gathers law and practice in the service of a new understanding of the creation and application of global human rights norms and standards. The 21st century will leave the pure Westphalian system behind, replacing international law with global law. Incorporating Rights points the way forward." — Anne-Marie Slaughter, President of the American Society of International Law, 2002-2004

"Erika George has produced a comprehensive and incisive overview of the entire business and human rights field as it has evolved over the last quarter century. It's all here in one volume: the evolution of law and policy; the range of structures and processes; the debates over efficacy and accountability. Its descriptive analysis and wealth of detail will make Incorporating Rights a standard reference for students and scholars, practitioners and policy-makers alike. Its publication is especially timely as the human rights responsibilities of business will become even more demanding." — Bennett Freeman, Author of Shared Space Under Pressure: Business Support for Civic Freedoms and Human Rights Defenders and former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

"In this timely and informative book Erika George thoughtfully explores the current gaps in laws and regulatory systems that constrain efforts to hold large companies accountable for human rights abuses in their global operations. She examines various voluntary efforts and transparency measures that have been undertaken in the last 20 years. Reflecting on these efforts, she offers a hopeful vision for the future in which creative collaborations between companies, affected communities and consumers will begin to bridge the human rights regulatory gap." — Michael Posner, Director NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights

"Incorporating Rights provides a fresh perspective on the debate between supporters of international law to address corporate human rights abuse and believers in corporate self-regulation. Relying on solid qualitative empirical field research, Erika George convincingly argues that so-called voluntary codes are not second best in the absence of a legal framework, but should instead be understood as a form of soft law regulation that can effectively push for change. Written in a clear and accessible style, and using persuasive case studies, the book meticulously builds a novel approach to the field of business and human rights. An essential contribution to the emerging business and human rights scholarship." — Nadia Bernaz, Wageningen University

"In this single volume, Erika George has gifted the world a comprehensive yet eminently readable history of the role of business in society—from the evolution of international law, to the emergence of the corporate social responsibility movement and multi-stakeholder initiatives, to the growth of reporting and rankings, to the role of investors and activists, to companies' actions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and 2020 protests against racial injustice. Moreover, George doesn't just recount events and summarize the facts, she also provides expert criticism and analysis. This book will have a prominent place on my shelf as my go-to reference and should be considered required reading for anyone interested in how and why capitalism has such a profound impact on our human rights." — Christine Bader, Author, The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil

"Professor Erika George brings a much-needed perspective to the evolving discourse on the expectations of business in society. Her sharp legal mind and systems thinking approach to examining the various levers at play to transform business behavior feels true to the increased role that media, consumers, investors and employees are playing in demanding and achieving in changing corporate behavior. This is a practical, real-world contribution that is primed for action." — Amol Mehra, Founding Executive Director, International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR)

"Incorporating Rights offers a compelling account of employing various strategies to inject human rights into the DNA of business. While not everyone in the business and human rights field may agree with the efficacy of these strategies, they should definitely be part of a regulatory system needed to harness corporate potential to create a more inclusive and sustainable world." — Surya Deva, Associate Professor, School of Law, City University of Hong Kong

"While continuing to advocate for a binding international treaty to regulate business, Professor George argues that soft law is evolving into a de facto hard law, as companies and their stakeholders align on a common understanding of what "respect" for human rights means in global business strategy and operations. Company managers and business leaders need to understand these rising expectations for their human-rights performance, and Professor George's analysis is a great place to start! Professor George combines her deep law background, with new scholarly research on human-rights conventions and dozens of one-on-one interviews with company practitioners and rights activists. The result is a schematic "roadmap" to help managers and executives navigate an increasingly complex global human-rights landscape!" — Terry Nelidov, Managing Director, Erb Institute, University of Michigan

From the Publisher