abusesaffiliationarrow-downarrow-leftarrow-rightarrow-upattack-typeburgerchevron-downchevron-leftchevron-rightchevron-upClock iconclosedeletedevelopment-povertydiscriminationdollardownloademailenvironmentexternal-linkfacebookfiltergenderglobegroupshealthC4067174-3DD9-4B9E-AD64-284FDAAE6338@1xinformation-outlineinformationinstagraminvestment-trade-globalisationissueslabourlanguagesShapeCombined Shapeline, chart, up, arrow, graphLinkedInlocationmap-pinminusnewsorganisationotheroverviewpluspreviewArtboard 185profilerefreshIconnewssearchsecurityPathStock downStock steadyStock uptagticktooltiptwitteruniversalityweb
Article

13 Nov 2017

Author:
Jonathan Bonnitcha & Robert McCorquodale, European Journal of International Law

The concept of 'due diligence' in the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights

See all tags

Due diligence is at the heart of the United Nations Guiding Principles... However, due diligence is normally understood to mean different things by human rights lawyers and by business people... [H]uman rights lawyers understand ‘due diligence’ as a standard of conduct required to discharge an obligation, whereas business people normally understand ‘due diligence’ as a process to manage business risks. The Guiding Principles invoke both understandings of the term at different points, without acknowledging that there are two quite different concepts operating and without seeming to explain how the two concepts relate to one another... [T]he confusion arising from this conceptual slippage is problematic in practice... [A] business enterprise’s responsibility to respect human rights is best understood as comprising two elements: its responsibility for its own adverse human rights impacts and its responsibility for the human rights impacts of third parties with which it has business relationships... [A] business enterprise has a correlative responsibility to provide a remedy for all its adverse human rights impacts, not only those adverse human rights impacts that result from a failure to act diligently.