“Business and Human Rights: Bridging the Governance Gap”, 22 Sep 2015

This research paper explores some trends and debates related to efforts to identify, promote and regulate the roles, responsibilities and impacts of business enterprises in relation to human rights.  The emerging field of business and human rights (BHR), encapsulating these issues, is marked by an overall paradox: clear signs of increasing interest and activity around BHR questions exist alongside considerable uncertainty, apathy or outright lack of awareness concerning many key BHR themes…[T]his paper attempts to assess the potential trajectory of the BHR agenda with the aim of furthering debate in policy, professional, business and academic circles…How might the field evolve over the period 2015–25, including on the basis of patterns since 2011?  What forces and factors might determine its trajectory?  If the overall objective is to promote maximal fulfilment and enjoyment of human rights, what measures and approaches will be the most appropriate, viable and sustainable?  How significant will law-based approaches be, relative to policy measures and market-driven Initiatives? What is at stake in pursuing that regulatory mix?...