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The UN and the OECD: Parallel or Convergent Paths?

Elisa Morgera

in Corporate Accountability in International Environmental Law

This chapter is based on an analysis and comparison of the instruments elaborated in the framework of the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation. It serves to ... More

This chapter is based on an analysis and comparison of the instruments elaborated in the framework of the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation. It serves to assess whether a significant convergence in the choice of international environmental standards for private companies is occurring. Such assessment provides further historical and conceptual background to this research, in highlighting the different approaches adopted to ensure the responsible conduct of the private sector and the different processes and actors involved in the definition of these standards. Notwithstanding the different levels of international acceptance and the different approaches of these initiatives, the analysis of these instruments led to the identification of a striking convergence of selected international environmental standards for corporate accountability.Less

Promoting CSR through the United Nations: Developmental and Governance Implications

Peter Utting

in The Responsible Corporation in a Global Economy

This chapter has an explicitly political focus and thus places the large corporation directly in the political science sphere. First, UN thinking and policy on CSR is outlined within a broader ... More

This chapter has an explicitly political focus and thus places the large corporation directly in the political science sphere. First, UN thinking and policy on CSR is outlined within a broader context of progressive UN ideas in the fields of development and governance, identifying a trend towards convergence in CSR policy between UN organizations, the World Bank, and the IMF over the last few decades. This new approach culminated in 1999 with the UN's ‘Global Compact’ initiated by Kofi Annan. Second, a more critical view of CSR is taken with respect to its developmental effectiveness and the type of development model that it reinforces. Developmental contributions being defined here as those that support social inclusiveness, sustainability, and the human rights of people in developing economies and not solely economic growth.Less

The Virtue of Voluntarism: Human Rights, Corporate Responsibility, and UN Global Compact

Ursula Wynhoven and Yousuf Aftab

in Corporate Social Responsibility?: Human Rights in the New Global Economy

The dichotomy between voluntary and regulatory approaches to achieving corporate responsibility is increasingly recognized as a false one. Instead, there is a new focus on the search for a smart mix ... More

The dichotomy between voluntary and regulatory approaches to achieving corporate responsibility is increasingly recognized as a false one. Instead, there is a new focus on the search for a smart mix of instruments and initiatives to incentivize and disincentivize, to reward and reorient business in the pursuit of corporate responsibility including for human rights. In this wider context, voluntary initiatives serve a variety of functions as a complement, but not substitute for regulation. Using the United Nations Global Compact as an example, this chapter unpacks some of the main contributions of voluntary initiatives. Lack of corporate responsibility is often not the result of rational profit maximizing business decisions. There are information gaps and management system failures that voluntary initiatives are well placed to help address. Among other things, voluntary initiatives focus on the important question of “how” in concrete specific terms corporate responsibility is to be realized. The limits of the law mean that regulation alone is not the panacea. There is an important role for voluntary actions like learning, dialogue and collective approaches and for self-enlightened business interest. And there is the need for all societal actors – consumers, investors, workers, governments - to better align the signals they send to businessLess

Transnational Private Authority and Its Contestation

Melanie Coni-Zimmer, Annegret Flohr, and Klaus Dieter Wolf

in Contested World Orders: Rising Powers, Non-Governmental Organizations, and the Politics of Authority Beyond the Nation-State

The chapter investigates the preferences of BRICS and NGOs with regard to the exercise of transnational private authority. Three such governance schemes are selected: the Kimberley Process, the ... More

The chapter investigates the preferences of BRICS and NGOs with regard to the exercise of transnational private authority. Three such governance schemes are selected: the Kimberley Process, the Global Compact, and the Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000) certification scheme. Transnational governance schemes are part of the liberal status quo. Yet, preferences of BRICS and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are so diverse that there is rarely joint contestation nor is there an alliance between the two groups of actors. The analysis shows that it is mainly civil society organizations (CSOs) which contest privatized governance schemes. Business-related interest groups are generally supporting such schemes, to little surprise. BRICS also show a remarkable level of support for privatized forms of governance. The clearest differences in preferences exist between CSOs and BRICS: whereas CSOs champion stronger international institutions, the support of BRICS for private governance schemes increases in proportion to the weakness of a given arrangement or to the extent of national discretion it still affords them. In light of BRICS’ and NGOs’ different preferences, on the one hand, and among the members of each of these groups, on the other hand, neither of these two ‘groups’ can be considered close to having a single shared vision of global order. As a result, there is also little potential for strategic cooperation between BRICS and NGOs when it comes to contesting the status quo of transnational private authority.Less

International Soft Law and Globalization

Catherine Redgwell

in Regulating Energy and Natural Resources

This chapter examines the role played by soft law in meeting the challenge of globalization. A perception is that with increased international economic integration transcending individual national ... More

This chapter examines the role played by soft law in meeting the challenge of globalization. A perception is that with increased international economic integration transcending individual national legal orders on the one hand, and deregulated (or under-regulated) global space facilitated by international trade (e.g. WTO), and financial institutions (e.g. World Bank) on the other, the negative effects of economic globalization are insufficiently addressed in international law. This is particularly the case with the regulation of social matters — labour, environment, and human rights. The chapter focuses on environmental examples, and includes recent soft law initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact established in 2000 and the Type II partnership agreements which have been concluded since the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.Less

Corporate Water Stewardship: Lessons for Goal-based Hybrid Governance

Takahiro Yamada

in Governing through Goals: Sustainable Development Goals as Governance Innovation

This chapter analyses the way in which the UN Global Compact Office (UNGCO) has attempted to mobilize the private sector to contribute to the attainment of MDG 7 through its initiative, the CEO Water ... More

This chapter analyses the way in which the UN Global Compact Office (UNGCO) has attempted to mobilize the private sector to contribute to the attainment of MDG 7 through its initiative, the CEO Water Mandate. Since water governance represents a global environmental issue, which is characterized not only by the absence of an international regime, but also by the need for technical information on water resources that can be provided by major corporations, it requires goal-based hybrid governance, where successful governance depends on effective collaboration of corporate water users. As such, the UNGCO has found it necessary to contain the associated “risk of goal displacement” by engaging in “activation,” “orchestration,” and “modulation,” of which “orchestration” has proved central. The output of this process has been the concept of corporate water stewardship representing a shared knowledge base, which allows corporations to manage their physical, reputational, and regulatory risks.Less

Corporations and Human Rights

ANDREW CLAPHAM

in Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors

This chapter discusses various regimes that seek to cover the human rights obligations of corporations: the OECD Guidelines, the ILO Tripartite Declaration, the UN Global Compact, the Norms of the ... More

This chapter discusses various regimes that seek to cover the human rights obligations of corporations: the OECD Guidelines, the ILO Tripartite Declaration, the UN Global Compact, the Norms of the Sub-Commission, and the regime of international law in general. It examines in detail the Alien Tort Statute in the United States as it has been applied to corporations.Less

Civilising globalisation

Harry Blutstein

in The Ascent of Globalisation

When Kofi Annan was elected the first African to head the United Nations in 1997, he faced an organisation that was dysfunctional, had a reputation for being anti-business, and it had little to ... More

When Kofi Annan was elected the first African to head the United Nations in 1997, he faced an organisation that was dysfunctional, had a reputation for being anti-business, and it had little to contribute to the onward march of globalisation. To address these problems, Annan forged a strong alliance with the corporate sector, launching the Global Compact in 2000. This programme encouraged transnational corporations to adopt universal norms of behaviour that had been established through various UN treaties. This programme also allowed Annan to harness the private sector to support his Millennial Development Goals, which was launched the same year. Through it, targets were set to deal with a range of social problems, thereby providing a novel way of coordinating global action between governments, international agencies, nongovernmental organisations, and the corporate sector. By the end of his term, Annan had created a new pathway to global governance, built around norms and measureable targets. The result was greater cooperation between members of the world’s community to solve social and environmental problems. Annan was motivated to establish these alternative programmes to compensate for the entrenched dysfunction within the UN General Assembly.Less

Sharpening the Monitoring Role of Other International Organizations

Elisa Morgera

in Corporate Accountability in International Environmental Law

This chapter assesses the oversight role of human rights monitoring bodies: the United Nations and in particular the Security Council, and the OECD national contact points. It also addresses the ... More

This chapter assesses the oversight role of human rights monitoring bodies: the United Nations and in particular the Security Council, and the OECD national contact points. It also addresses the question of their increased cooperation. Recommendations are then formulated to enhance the impact of international organizations' monitoring activities, whether direct or indirect, upon private companies. The importance of systematically documenting corporate harmful conducts and the actual limits of home and host States in controlling, preventing or responding to them is underscored. So is the need to ensure closer collaboration between the different international organizations currently monitoring the environmental conduct of private companies through exchange of information, joint investigations and follow-up actions.Less

How Universal Are Club Standards? Emerging Markets and Volunteerism

Daniel W. Drezner and Mimi Lu

in Voluntary Programs: A Club Theory Perspective

This chapter focuses on the universality of club standards, first by examining if voluntary clubs are truly a global phenomenon, or if Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ... More

This chapter focuses on the universality of club standards, first by examining if voluntary clubs are truly a global phenomenon, or if Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) multinational firms have created a misconception among scholars of the global political economy. It provides a “tough test” of how powerful voluntary clubs are through examining the participation and compliance of firms located in Pacific Rim developing countries in relation to those in the United Nations Global Compact, the Free Burma campaign, and the ISO 14001 regime. The test reveals the similarities and differences of the Pacific Rim, and concludes that there is a suggestion that there is value in the club model for voluntary programs, and that firms are more adherent to “strong sword” programs, but that further research is necessary to come to a clear verdict.Less

Corporate Responsibility for Pharmaceutical Corporations

Klaus M. Leisinger

in The Responsible Corporation in a Global Economy

This chapter considers the role and responsibilities of a responsible corporation from the perspective of a global pharmaceutical. Many examples are provided of how CSR process, practice, and ... More

This chapter considers the role and responsibilities of a responsible corporation from the perspective of a global pharmaceutical. Many examples are provided of how CSR process, practice, and perspective are inextricably interdependent and interwoven at two key levels of the institutional and the personal. The importance of how a corporation achieves its business objective of maximizing profits is discussed. The United Nations Global Compact (GC) as a frame of reference for corporate responsibility reflections is discussed, as well as its limitations. When talking about a responsible ‘corporation’, the significance of the personal level of the company's managers and employees is identified. Thus, the ethics of top managers is a key point that has further implications in understanding how moral norms, including corporate responsibility norms, are likely to be filled when they appear self‐evident to the agent expected to act within specific contexts.Less

Migration Governance at the Global Level: Intergovernmental Organizations and Environmental Change-Induced Migration

Martin Geiger

in Environmental Conflicts, Migration and Governance

This chapter presents insights into global migration governance and maps the management of environmentally induced migration. Focusing on the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the ... More

This chapter presents insights into global migration governance and maps the management of environmentally induced migration. Focusing on the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the UN High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Development Program (UNDP) and UN Environmental Program (UNEP) the author discusses the migration policies of these organizations and their involvement in the negotiation of Global Compacts on migration and refugees. It highlights that migration governance takes place in different international organizations with overlapping mandates and memberships. Also, that their efforts are limited due to sovereignty claims of member states. The chapter concludes by mentioning the achievements and difficulties of environmental migration governance on the international level and how the UN Global Compacts can serve as potential problem solvers.Less

The UN Global Compact: Corporate Social Responsibility in India and Russia

Laura A. Henry and Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom

in Bringing Global Governance Home: NGO Mediation in the BRICS States

This chapter compares participation of NGOs from India and Russia in the UN Global Compact (UNGC). It identifies a puzzling difference: Indian NGOs have joined the UNGC with equal enthusiasm to ... More

This chapter compares participation of NGOs from India and Russia in the UN Global Compact (UNGC). It identifies a puzzling difference: Indian NGOs have joined the UNGC with equal enthusiasm to Indian companies, while Russian companies vastly outnumber NGOs. The UNGC is an example of a governance initiative that attracted robust NGO participation at first, but offers relatively low authority and lacks specific tools for NGOs to engage in domestic mediation and participate in decision-making, which may lead to stagnation. In addition, competing domestic CSR initiatives may provide alternative venues for NGOs and business actors that disperse their participation. However, domestic government policy measures may stimulate NGOs’ engagement with parallel global governance institutions. Indian NGO mediation efforts have been more effective than those of Russian NGOs due to different industrial profiles and export orientations, domestic government policies on CSR, and traditions of corporate philanthropy.Less

Introduction: Power, Profit, and Social Trust

Charlotte Walker-Said

in Corporate Social Responsibility?: Human Rights in the New Global Economy

This Introduction presents the themes and arguments of the volume. It also introduces the sections and chapters and their authors.

INGOs and Corporations

Sarah S. Stroup and Wendy H. Wong

in The Authority Trap: Strategic Choices of International NGOs

Condemnation of corporate environmental and human rights performance has been something that some INGOs have become well-known for, yet not all INGOs elect to be publicly confrontational. We explore ... More

Condemnation of corporate environmental and human rights performance has been something that some INGOs have become well-known for, yet not all INGOs elect to be publicly confrontational. We explore strategic choices through several examples of private, cross-sectoral regulations that emerged in the early 2000s. Leading INGOs are far more likely to collaborate and be asked to collaborate than other INGOs. Two platforms, The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) and the UN Global Compact (UNGC), leveraged early collaboration from a few leading INGOs to establish their credibility. We then explore the alternatives to collaboration. Though many INGOs condemn corporate behavior, little sustained attention has resulted from their efforts. Competition is possibly more fruitful for improving corporate practice, as the example of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) showsLess

Harmonization of Labor Standards

Junji Nakagawa

in International Harmonization of Economic Regulation

This chapter analyzes international harmonization of labour standards, tracing its history from early efforts in the late 19th century in Europe to developments under the ILO (International Labour ... More

This chapter analyzes international harmonization of labour standards, tracing its history from early efforts in the late 19th century in Europe to developments under the ILO (International Labour Organization) with a focus on the unique decision making procedure of the ILO and implementation mechanisms of the ILO Conventions and Recommendations. The chapter finally turns to efforts to include social clauses under the GATT, WTO and regional trade agreements, as well as to recent initiatives to raise labour standards by the private sector (Corporate Social Responsibility and the UN Global Compact).Less

Business and Human Rights and the Challenges for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Michael K Addo

in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in International Economic Law

This chapter assesses the challenges posed by the implementation of business and human rights standards, especially the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in small ... More

This chapter assesses the challenges posed by the implementation of business and human rights standards, especially the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Although SMEs make up between 85 and 99 per cent of global enterprises, they have not been directly involved in the crafting of these standards and this coupled with the traditional focus on transnational enterprises gives a flavour of the formidably challenging context in which the UNGPs are to be implemented. Drawing on lessons from related disciplines such as corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental sustainability, the chapter explores the implications for human rights of issues such as SME identity, organizational structures, and their place in supply chains. The chapter concludes that the challenges are not overwhelming, especially if the unique characteristics of SMEs such as their flexibility, adaptability, and clear leaderships can be leveraged to achieve the objectives of the business and human rights standards.Less

Private Sector Response to Corruption

Fritz Heimann

in Confronting Corruption: Past Concerns, Present Challenges, and Future Strategies

This chapter focuses on what has been done to combat corruption in the private sector starting in the United States with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977: the first law that ... More

This chapter focuses on what has been done to combat corruption in the private sector starting in the United States with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977: the first law that criminalized foreign bribery. The OECD Convention, which internationalized the FCPA, became effective in 1999; it prohibits foreign bribery of public officials by over forty countries. The UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) became effective in 2005; it deals with domestic as well as foreign bribery, bribery of public officials as well as bribery in the private sector. Corporate responses have also evolved with anticorruption compliance programs applied by US companies now for more than three decades. This chapter covers common problem areas such as gifts, entertainment, and travel expenses; lobbyists and sales representatives; political contributions; facilitation payments; foreign subsidies and joint ventures. This chapter also covers the psychology of corrupt conduct and factors to change the corporate culture.Less