Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Business & Human Rights Law
- Cambridge Companions to Law
- The Cambridge Companion to Business & Human Rights Law
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Cases
- Abbreviations
- 1 Business and Human Rights
- 2 Reconciling International Human Rights with International Trade
- 3 Neoliberalism, State-Capitalism and European Ordo-Liberalism
- 4 Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility
- 5 The Role of Business in International Development and the Attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals
- 6 The Business Case for Human Rights
- 7 The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and Its Predecessors
- 8 The Regulatory Framework of Multinational Enterprises
- 9 The UN Global Compact and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Their Enforcement Mechanisms
- 10 Taxation and Business
- 11 Corporate Accountability for the Natural Environment and Climate Change
- 12 Corporate Accountability for Corruption and the Business Case for Transparency
- 13 Disability, Business and Human Rights
- 14 Gender, Business and Human Rights
- 15 The Business Sector and the Rights to Work and Just and Favourable Conditions of Work
- 16 Responsible Lending
- 17 Business and Human Rights Approaches to Intellectual Property
- 18 The Role of Human Rights in Investment Law and Arbitration
- 19 The Use of International Arbitration Tribunals for Business and Human Rights Disputes
- 20 Innovative Contractual Remedies with Indigenous Peoples
- 21 The Role of Ethics in Corporate Human Rights Impact Assessments
- 22 Addressing Human Rights Impacts in Sustainability Reporting
- 23 Leveraging the Consumer-Led Movement to Strengthen Sustainable Business
- 24 The Structural Complexity of Multinational Corporations and the Effect on Managing Human Rights Risks in the Supply Chain
- 25 Towards a UN Business and Human Rights Treaty
- Index
7 - The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and Its Predecessors
Progress at a Snail’s Pace?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 September 2021
- The Cambridge Companion to Business & Human Rights Law
- Cambridge Companions to Law
- The Cambridge Companion to Business & Human Rights Law
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Cases
- Abbreviations
- 1 Business and Human Rights
- 2 Reconciling International Human Rights with International Trade
- 3 Neoliberalism, State-Capitalism and European Ordo-Liberalism
- 4 Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility
- 5 The Role of Business in International Development and the Attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals
- 6 The Business Case for Human Rights
- 7 The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and Its Predecessors
- 8 The Regulatory Framework of Multinational Enterprises
- 9 The UN Global Compact and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Their Enforcement Mechanisms
- 10 Taxation and Business
- 11 Corporate Accountability for the Natural Environment and Climate Change
- 12 Corporate Accountability for Corruption and the Business Case for Transparency
- 13 Disability, Business and Human Rights
- 14 Gender, Business and Human Rights
- 15 The Business Sector and the Rights to Work and Just and Favourable Conditions of Work
- 16 Responsible Lending
- 17 Business and Human Rights Approaches to Intellectual Property
- 18 The Role of Human Rights in Investment Law and Arbitration
- 19 The Use of International Arbitration Tribunals for Business and Human Rights Disputes
- 20 Innovative Contractual Remedies with Indigenous Peoples
- 21 The Role of Ethics in Corporate Human Rights Impact Assessments
- 22 Addressing Human Rights Impacts in Sustainability Reporting
- 23 Leveraging the Consumer-Led Movement to Strengthen Sustainable Business
- 24 The Structural Complexity of Multinational Corporations and the Effect on Managing Human Rights Risks in the Supply Chain
- 25 Towards a UN Business and Human Rights Treaty
- Index
Summary
This chapter provides a critical overview of the UNGPs and its three predecessors: the 1990 Draft Code, the Global Compact, and the Draft UN Norms. The current BHR treaty process, which is dealt with elsewhere in this book, is touched upon briefly because of space constraints. In providing an overview of various attempts at the UN level to regulate corporations, two arguments are made in this chapter. First, we should see the UNGPs as part of a continuing process to develop standards at the UN level, rather than as a complete new start. Second, it is argued that the UN has made too little and too slow progress in putting in place an effective regulatory regime. In making such an assessment about the progress made so far in ‘humanizing business’, the author attempts to step in the shoes of rights holders, because progress could be interpreted differently from the perspective of different stakeholders.
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- The Cambridge Companion to Business and Human Rights Law , pp. 145 - 172Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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