Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights and the Law

This book examines whether Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the responsibilities of business enterprises for human rights have been legally defined in international, European and national law.

The Legalization of the Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights confronts and tests the validity of existing doctrinal approaches to the legal personality of business enterprises with the evolving realities of the emerging business and human rights regime. In doing so, insights are drawn from theoretical approaches to global governance to determine the impact of CSR, and the responsibilities of business enterprises for human rights, in the thorny topic of ‘subjects of (international) law’. It also examines what, if anything, makes business enterprises ‘legal persons’ in a global governance context.

Setting out a possible future scenario for the legalisation of CSR to respect human rights that keeps within the thrust of the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and reflects current realties in the human rights landscape, this book will be of great interest to scholars of business ethics, international human rights law and CSR more broadly.