Over the past decades, business and human rights has become a self-standing interdisciplinary field in the broader areas of law, business studies, economics, management and philosophy. A rich and plural community of stakeholders has strived to develop standards of responsible business conduct that every business should not only uphold but also internalize. One of the signs that business and human rights has matured as a field of scholarship is the growing number of monographs, including textbooks, which introduce newcomers to the field and assist already familiar researchers by defining its contours.
The book by Robert McCorquodale is part of OUP’s ‘Elements of International Law’ series, which publishes succinct guides and textbooks on various international law subjects by leading scholars. Several books on business and human rights have been published over the past decades, including other textbooks in English and other languages, but this excellent and accessible book stands particularly high among existing publications. The author is a well-known scholar and practitioner in business and human rights and a current member of the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Business and Human Rights. He worked in the field even before it became recognized as a full-fledged subfield of human rights and international law. During his career, he has held many positions in the public and private sectors.
The book is divided into nine self-standing chapters. Chapter 1 opens the book with what was probably the trigger point for the development of the field, namely human rights and environmental disaster in the city of Bhopal in the central Indian region of Madhya Pradesh, causing the plight of thousands of victims and their families. The chapter then goes on to explore the development of business and human rights law, starting with the activities of the East India Company in the seventeenth century and concluding with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).
After that, Chapter 2 describes the current state of the art of international law and business and their relationship. It dissects what role international law plays in regulating business. Chapter 3 provides fundamentals of international legal regulations of business and human rights. It explores primary international (soft) documents such as the UNGPs, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, the International Labour Organization (ILO) Tripartite Declaration on Multinational Enterprises, the International Financial Corporation’s Performance Standards and the Equator Principles. It provides an interesting discussion of how the UNGPs have since 2011 influenced the content and nature of the soft law documents that were adopted prior to the appearance of UNGPs. The author is correct in the conclusion of Chapter 3 that the UNGPs are now ‘… the starting point to consider all issues concerning business and human rights.’Footnote 1
The next three chapters follow the structure of the three pillars of the UNGPs. Accordingly, Chapter 4 examines state obligations about business and human rights. States have traditionally been duty-holders of human rights obligations. They remain one of the actors causing human rights violations. In Chapter 4, the author provides very clear criteria that govern the attribution of state responsibility in international law. Regarding the heavily discussed and contested issue of extraterritorial obligations of states to regulate business, the author adopts a cautious approach and submits that ‘there may … be good evidence of a move towards accepting that there are transnational obligations on states…’Footnote 2
Nonetheless, rights holders have also continued to suffer due to the adverse impact of business activities. Therefore, Chapter 5, the longest and arguably the seminal chapter of the book, scrutinizes the critical concepts of corporate responsibility, particularly the idea of human rights due diligence. It provides a comprehensive background and genesis of Pillar 2 of the UNGPs, thereby distinguishing such responsibilities from the state’s duty to protect. The chapter includes eight subsections, from context and corporate responsibility to human rights due diligence. As corporate responsibility is one of the more contested areas in business and human rights, the author has carefully and persuasively defined its context. He describes corporate responsibility and follows the UNGPs approach, preferring to speak about corporate responsibilities and not legal corporate obligations, as some scholars and civil society organizations have argued.Footnote 3
Access to justice is one of business and human rights’ Achilles’ heels as victims have struggled to enforce accountability for business-related human rights abuse. Chapter 6 is dedicated to presenting a few avenues for ensuring access to remedies for victims of alleged abuses. It first provides the context of access to remedy in general human rights law. Thereafter, it discusses judicial and nonjudicial state mechanisms to enforce corporate accountability for human rights. The author goes on to critically scrutinize business operational grievance mechanisms. He argues that businesses should introduce such a mechanism ‘… as soon as the business explores the possibility of operating in a location…’Footnote 4
Chapter 7 dwells on attempts at the domestic level to regulate corporate human rights obligations. It illustrates how the adoption of the UNGPs has propelled the development and adoption of several domestic and regional legislation, mostly on modern slavery and human rights due diligence. Those domestic frameworks have been primarily developed in the domestic legal systems of countries of the Global North. However, many of them have extraterritorial effects. Nonetheless, he highlights ‘… the need to have effective and appropriate legislation in this field and of being wary of simply having any form of legislation, especially if it is of limited scope.’Footnote 5
Finally, Chapter 8 looks into future developments in business and human rights. The author highlights four issues that will shape future debates; some are already at the top of the global agenda. Those issues include reviewing the UNGPs, climate change and technology, and drafting the potential UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights. I agree with the selection of those issues. However, I would add at least the following issues, which have already triggered the development of new standards and are subject to implementing new standards. Those issues are business and human rights and the rule of law, business and human rights in space, the application of business and human rights in conflict-affected areas, and business and human rights and vulnerable groups.
The book concludes with a synthesis of seminal points in Chapter 9, connecting all previous chapters in a persuasive whole. The author rightly includes that the period after the adoption of the UNGPs has been characterized by a ‘normative change’ and that behind it lies ‘… the transformative idea of businesses having human rights responsibilities …’Footnote 6 The field of business and human rights has been developed with a clear goal of providing rights-holders an additional layer of protection against the adverse impact of business activities.
This book provides a sober assessment of the quickly evolving field of business and human rights. It is well-written and researched, illustrating the author’s creativity and experience in business and human rights. The book discusses global debates on the interplay between the past, present and future of business and human rights. It rightly highlights enforcement issues in business and human rights and encourages readers to consider the enforcement of future business and human rights law more carefully. Generally, it presents an accurate description and evaluation of the field. Nonetheless, it includes some contentious points, for instance, on the distinction between the state duty to protect and corporate responsibilities, where the author takes a more traditional approach, which parts of the academic community and a large part of civil society do not share. Additionally, the author could pay more attention to some issues, such as, for example, the benefits and perils of measuring business and human rights, i.e., does measuring encompass all the plight of rightsholders fully? It would be interesting to read the author’s take on which actors are best placed to track compliance with the UNGPs: companies, governments, civil society, transnational bodies or all of them.
The field of business and human rights faces several challenges to which stakeholders need to respond adequately. Besides deficient enforcement, questions such as the relationship between corporate actors and the rule of law, weak institutions, state and corporate capture by influential groups, and corruption hinder addressing existing and forthcoming business and human rights challenges and would have merited examination in the author’s book.
The book presents a nuanced picture of primary instruments, institutions and rules in the current normative business and human rights structures and how to hold companies responsible. It is a testimony of the field’s rapid development, particularly after the adoption of the UNGPs, thanks to many stakeholders, as the author highlights. The author has penned an excellent examination of the current state of the art of business and human rights. One can disagree with him on some points, but overall, the portrayal of the field is inclusive, plural and sober. How the business and human rights field will move forward likely depends on how different stakeholders will talk to each other on the basis of a common understanding of the field. In this context, this book should not be understood merely as a textbook but as a thorough examination of the current situation in the field, to which seasoned scholars and other stakeholders can resort. The book speaks to academia, postgraduate research students and policy-makers, but also to business stakeholders, particularly those from compliance departments. It is a good basis for debating among established stakeholders and provides a constructive and balanced starting point for newcomers in business and human rights.
