No employer wants to be branded a human rights abuser. Yet
increasingly companies are accused of violating human rights even
in situations where their activities are in compliance with
applicable law or were consistent with the manner in which they
have historically conducted business. Human rights as they relate
to business are here to stay, and every multinational enterprise
will eventually have to address them. It is just a matter of when
– and under what circumstances – that will
happen. It is therefore critical that an employer understand the
risks that human rights issues present to the enterprise, and the
need for a careful and circumspect approach to them.
In June of 2011, to much fanfare, the United Nations Human
Rights Council adopted U.N. Special Representative Professor John
Ruggie's Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This
instrument is the most significant development in recent years
regarding global efforts to standardize corporate
