Just Published: The Future of Business and Human Rights: Theoretical and Practical Considerations for a U.N. Treaty (Jernej Letnar Černič and Nicolás Carrillo-Santarelli, eds., Cambridge, Intersentia Press (2018))

I am am happy to report the publication announcement of The Future of Business and Human Rights: Theoretical and Practical Considerations for a U.N. Treaty (Jernej Letnar Černič and Nicolás Carrillo-Santarelli, eds., Cambridge, Intersentia Press (2018)).  The book is expected to ship in mid February 2018. This book presents theoretical and practical considerations on whether it would be feasible to adopt an international treaty on business and human rights to address corporate human rights abuses.  From the website:

About the Book

It is an undeniable fact that corporations participate in human rights abuses throughout the world. Yet there is disagreement among scholars, politicians and business actors about the best approaches to preventing and responding to those abuses and whether it would be feasible to adopt a treaty on the matter.

This book explores the potential adoption of a treaty on business and human rights, first proposed by Ecuador and South Africa. Would such a treaty be practicable and what should its content be – should it regulate direct corporate obligations or extraterritorial obligations? How can experiences of other international legal regimes and developments in regional systems inform the global debate on business and human rights?

The Future of Business and Human Rights informs the reader – academics, practitioners and policy makers – about the current debate that is at centre of legal and diplomatic discussion.

I am pleased to have been part of this effort. Contents  follow. The Table of Contents and Contributor bios may also be accessed HERE. Ordering Information HERE.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
About the Contributors
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Introduction
Jernej Letnar Černič and Nicolás Carrillo-Santarelli . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

PART I. THE CONVENIENCE AND POSSIBILITY OF ADOPTING
A TREATY ON BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Alternative Paths to a Business and Human Rights Treaty
Surya Deva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2. State of the Art: Binding Corporate Obligations and the ‘Three High
Tides’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3. Exploring Alternative Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

A Defence of Direct International Human Rights Obligations of (All) Corporations
Nicolás Carrillo-Santarelli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2. The Centrality of Victims and the Existence of Corporate
Violations: Key Issues Frequently Ignored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3. Rebutting the Objections to Direct International Human Rights Obligations of All
Corporations, and Affirming the Benefits of those Duties .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4. The Existence of Implied General Duties and the Relevance of Complementary Express Obligations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

A Treaty on Business and Human Rights: Problems and Prospects
Chiara Macchi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

1. Introduction: Moving the Business and Human Rights Agenda
Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2. The Ratione Personae Scope of the Proposed Treaty . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 68
3. The Nature of the Proposed Treaty and its Ratione Materiae Scope . . . 71
4. The Long and Winding Road Towards an International Treaty . . . . . .. 76
5. Monitoring the Treaty: What Role for a Business and Human Rights
Treaty Body? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6. Conclusion: The Added Value of a Treaty on Business and Human Rights . .. . . 82

PART II. CRITICAL ANALYSES OF A TREATY ON BUSINESS
AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Considering a Treaty on Corporations and Human Rights:
Mostly Failures but with a Glimmer of Success
Larry Catá Backer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2. The Failures that the Treaty Process Reveals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3. From Out of Failure ... Small Success: Why the Treaty Process
Ought to Embrace its Destiny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 105
4. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

‘
Band-Aids Don’t Fix Bullet Holes’: In Defence of a Traditional State-Centric Approach
Tara L Van Ho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
2. The Guiding Principles and the Need for a Treaty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
3. Horizontal Human Rights in a State-Centric Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
4. Assessing and Modifying the Current Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Voluntary vs. Binding: Civil Society’s Claim for a Binding Instrument
Ana María Suárez Franco and Daniel Fyfe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

1. Introduction . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
2. The Reasons behind the Demand for a Binding Instrument
to Regulate TNCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
3. The Response from the Treaty Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
4. Resolution 26/9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
5. The Pre-Sessional Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6. First Session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working
Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . 152
7. Second Session of the Oeigwg, 24–28 October 2016 . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 155
8. Conclusions: The Added Values of the Process and the Way Ahead . .157

PART III. REGIONAL APPROACHES

Business and Human Rights in the Americas: Defining a Latin American
Route to Corporate Responsibility
Humberto Cantú Rivera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
2. The Treaty Resolution and the Position of Latin American States
During the First and Second Sessions of the Treaty Process . . . .. . . . . . 165
3. First Steps Towards the Implementation of the UN Guiding Principles
in the Americas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . 170
4. A Changing Role for the Inter-American Human Rights System:
Human Rights Due Diligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 180
5. Concluding Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

The Applicability of Human Rights Treaties to Business Enterprises: A Case Study of India
Manoj Kumar Sinha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
2. Business and Human Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
3. Enforcement of Human Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
4. Human Rights and the Indian Constitution . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
5. Right to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
6. Right to Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
7. UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights: Indian Experience . . . . . 205
8. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Reckless Business: Corporate Accountability for Atrocities
Dan Kuwali . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
2. Mapping Out the Business and Human Rights Agenda in Africa . . . . 212
3. Why a Treaty? Closing the Corporate Accountability Gap . . . . . . .  . 216
4. From Corporate Impunity to Corporate Accountability: Towards
Responsible Business Conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . 220
5. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 226

European Perspectives on the Business and Human Rights Treaty Initiative
Jernej Letnar Černič . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
2. The UN Guiding Principles and the European States . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 230
3. Workings within the Council of Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
4. The European Union and Business and Human Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
5. How to Move Forward?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
6. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . 248

PART IV. LESSONS FROM OTHER REGIMES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
A Convention or a Recommendation? The Experience of International
Labour Legislation
Ago Shin-Ichi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
2. Legal Nature of International Labour Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
3. A ‘Soft Drive’ Towards Ratification of an ILO Convention .  . . . . . . . 256
4. Conventions and Recommendations as a Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
5. Lessons Learnt from the ILO’s Choice of Legal Instruments . . . . . . . . 262
6. Lesson from the ILO’s Tripartite Declaration on Multinational
Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 263
7. Treaty or Guidelines: Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Lessons for the Treaty Process from the International Law Commission
and International Environmental Law
Sara L Seck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
2. The Amnesty Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
3. Contributions of the International Law Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
4. Conclusions: Lessons for the Treaty Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Conclusion
Jernej Letnar Černič and Nicolás Carrillo-Santarelli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . 299

1. Actor-Related Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
2. Subject-Related Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
3. Final Remarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

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