Businesses working across jurisdictions will increasingly have to deal with “human rights” issues, says Chris Syder
Human rights mean different things to different people. Consequently, human rights have different implications and contexts, not least because they belong to every person whatever their nationality, place of residence, gender, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language or any other status.
Universal human rights are often set out and guaranteed by law in the form of treaties, customary international law, general principles and other sources of international law. However, international or national human rights laws regretfully do not prevent human rights abuses. The limitations of government mean the role of socially responsible businesses then comes into sharp focus. But when a business examines the detail to engage effectively in human rights, it faces an increasingly complex and uncertain context.
How should business view human rights?
Human rights represent both risk and opportunity to business. Sometimes they are harnessed by pressure groups, such as global trade unions, to further their wider agendas which, not surprisingly, can make businesses wary.
The global context is a challenging one because labour
