Human Rights in Practice and in the Digital Age

As global commerce expanded, attention turned to the human rights responsibilities of private corporations, which fall outside the state-centered structure of most human rights treaties. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011 and developed by the Harvard professor John Ruggie in his role as UN Special Representative, rest on three pillars: the state's duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including businesses; the corporate responsibility to respect human rights throughout operations and supply chains; and the need for victims to have access to effective remedy. Though not legally binding, the Guiding Principles have been widely incorporated into national action plans and corporate due-diligence practices, following earlier, unsuccessful attempts to negotiate binding UN norms on transnational corporations.