When the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) were unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in June 2011, they gave birth to a new field of endeavour that aims to confront, diminish, and eliminate business-related conduct that violates or otherwise harms human rights. Eight years on, the Intergovernmental Working Group has published a revised draft of an international treaty on business and human rights. The advancing discussions on a binding international treaty reflect how far this field has come in such a short time. More than 50 countries now have emerging or established national action plans on business and human rights. Dozens of organisations and initiatives have been established to monitor, advise, or promote respect for human rights in business, and an expanding pool of companies now publicly disclose how they manage their human rights impact. Yet, with all of the momentum and apparent buy-in, the fate of business and human rights remains decidedly uncertain.
More fateful than the treaty
There are numerous sources of uncertainty. The first is the obvious question of how effective any treaty would be. A weak treaty would give only the illusion of progress. A strong treaty could prompt states to take leadership and champion the business and human rights agenda at home and abroad, however even then it is unclear to what extent this would translate into real change for workers and other affected persons. No treaty is watertight, and even a promising one will contain grey areas and loopholes, leaving room for rights-washing, and other measures to circumvent human rights.
The esoteric assertions and compromises of specialists will determine whether the field of business and human rights brings about real change or merely results in a new collection of checklists.
Thankfully the fight for business and human rights is much larger than the push for this one document, but success in these other areas is also far from certain. Contributors to a recent publication, Navigating a New Era of Business and Human Rights, describe a field in flux and at constant risk of corporate capture. The fateful question is whether the field will be able to withstand the pressure and continue to uphold the essence and spirit of human rights.
