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In today’s globalised world, corporations operate across national borders and legal systems with ease, presenting complex challenges for the protection of human rights. The Business and Human Rights in Law website provides a comprehensive guide to these initiatives, with a focus on legislation and jurisprudence in the home states of transnational corporations. The site explores how these states are using the law to prevent and remedy human rights abuse throughout corporate value chains.
The laws and legislative proposals included in this website all focus on human rights and environmental due diligence. They are classified according to three categories:
These laws impose a duty on companies to identify and assess the potential risks to human rights and the environment caused by their operations, and to take appropriate action to prevent and mitigate such risks. Due Diligence and Remedy laws create an explicit cause of action for rights-holders who suffer harm when companies fail to discharge these duties. Companies found civilly liable under these statutes must provide victims with remedy, such as financial compensation. In a few cases, these laws also include criminal sanctions. Laws in the Due Diligence and Remedy category are the most robust human rights and environmental due diligence provisions that exist.
These laws include a corporate duty, as described above. They may also include provisions that enhance access to justice, such as the imposition of criminal sanctions and the loss of market access for companies that fail to comply, or the judicial review of administrative decisions. However, Due Diligence statutes do not include a basis for corporate civil liability.
Reporting laws require that corporations disclose information about their human rights and environmental due diligence. These statutes do not create legal obligations for companies to conduct due diligence, nor do they address access to justice. Laws in the Reporting category are the weakest human rights and environmental due diligence provisions that exist.
The laws in each of these categories vary considerably in scope. The Business and Human Rights in Law website assesses each statute using six categories of elements, each with multiple criteria. When a law meets a criterion, it receives a green check mark. A yellow check mark indicates that a criterion is partially met and a red X means that the law fails to meet the criterion.
The elements include:
Each law on the website has its own descriptor page. To see how different laws compare with respect to the elements listed above, select the orange ‘Add to comparison view’ button located at the bottom of the descriptor page for those laws of interest. Compare as many as ten laws at a time.
The Business and Human Rights in Law website includes up-to-date information about litigation in home states that seeks to hold parent companies to account for harm caused throughout their global value chains. These cases involve diverse scenarios and legal issues. They concern a wide range of rights abuses, such as the killing and injury of local residents by security forces; perilous work conditions; forced labour, including child slavery; human rights impacts related to climate change; violations of Indigenous rights, including threats to land and livelihoods; severe environmental damage; and illegal deforestation, among others. The plaintiffs in these suits seek a variety of remedies, including financial compensation; injunctions to halt or prevent corporate operations; and court orders to require that companies produce and implement vigilance plans, control environmental contamination and reduce CO2 emissions, among others. The Court Cases page provides descriptions of these cases and links to primary documents, where available.
Something missing? Please reach out to us at info@bhr-law.org and let us know about laws or court cases you think we should include.