tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24800874.post3061001372741531175..comments2024-02-04T15:43:01.869-05:00Comments on Law at the End of the Day: At the 2nd U.N. Forum on Business and Human Rights--Reflections on Bilchitz and Deva (eds) "Human Rights Obligations of Business: Beyond the Corporate Responsibility to Respect?"Larry Catá Backerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06545101367530775497noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24800874.post-29457318069139267922013-12-19T16:52:11.558-05:002013-12-19T16:52:11.558-05:00I am surprised to be the first to comment. The mo...I am surprised to be the first to comment. The modern human rights movement has generally been inspired by the desire to eliminate serious discrimination and abuse against our fellow human beings. The search for remedies began with states, persuading them to adopt rules and institutions that could monitor abuses and bring some level of redress. Today, the power of many states is dwarfed by that of increasing numbers of commercial enterprises whose activities have positive but also serious negative outcomes for human beings ranging from their own employees to families living on the toxic waste of a century ago. Thus the core question of the book is the degree to which the GP provides remedies and protects the human beings who suffer negative outcomes as a result of corporate activity. This would seem to be a reasonable goal and criterion for proposed means such as the GP. The current stature of the GP (and related human rights activities) contrasts dramatically with the stringency and levels of enforcement enjoyed by the other, real-life norms that govern corporate activity, notably, the WTO, intellectual property, product standards, domestic taxation etc., not to mention quarterly earnings. Faced with them, the GP are a tiny sideshow and the corporate world knows it.J. Paul Martinnoreply@blogger.com