Human Right Due Diligence - The Role of States

4 December 2012, by European Coalition for Corporate Justice

On the 3rd December, the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ) along with the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR) and the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA) launched the report below commissioned by International Experts on Business and Human Rights, entitled “Human Rights Due Diligence: the Role of States.” The International Experts commissioned include Professor Olivier De Schutter, Professor Anita Ramasastry, Mark B. Taylor and Robert C. Thompson.

The Report builds off of a set of global Consultations with legal practitioners, academics and experts from around the world and examines how States are using their regulatory authority to mandate due diligence for human rights or areas akin to human rights, such as environmental protection and workplace health and safety. The Report seeks to establish the extent to which the legal systems of States already make use of due diligence to ensure that businesses respect established standards and to describe for policymakers a range of regulatory options they might use to take the next steps in ensuring businesses respect human rights.