Professor profile for Venkat Ganesan
Student reviews of Venkat Ganesan
Review from a student who took
Review from a student who took KSsGSufGtMa
Perhaps a way to look at the HRC's actions last week may be to see it as the reiitncgoon of the concept of business and human rights standards which is the culmination of the process started in 1998 and 1999 when the Fair Labor Association and Voluntary Principles began. That ushered in an era of efforts to articulate and codify the human rights responsibilities of companies. EITI, GNI and others were also reflections of this movement. The standards debate probably started to fully transition into issues of accountability about four or five years ago. But as the UN embraced this concept, much of this world had already moved on to defining accountability: independent monitoring (FLA or GNI), quasi-regulatory measures (IFC standards, lawsuits, or shareholder activism), and regulation (Dodd Frank). For existing initiatives, the issues centered around how to instill accountability. And for efforts like the Kimberley Process or EITI that have accountability mechanisms, the big questions are how to ensure compliance and make existing mechanisms more effective or responsive in today's world. Kimberley in particular is under pressure because of Zimbabwe and governments are very resistant to explicit human rights protections and more effective accountability mechanisms. The big issue, however, is when governments will start to regulate. The debate today is not about whether business has a responsibility for human rights but how can they and governments be accountable for those obligations.In other words, the concept of human rights of business standards is accepted, but now we are in the era of accountability. The HRC could have also endorsed the accountability agenda through a review mechanism and stronger guidelines, but it demurred. That was a missed opportunity. Hopefully the gap between efforts on accountability and the HRC's reiitncgoon of them won't be as large as the 12-13 year gap between the first standards and the present HRC reiitncgoon of the concept of human rights standards for business.
Perhaps a way to look at the HRC's actions last week may be to see it as the reiitncgoon of the concept of business and human rights standards which is the culmination of the process started in 1998 and 1999 when the Fair Labor Association and Voluntary Principles began. That ushered in an era of efforts to articulate and codify the human rights responsibilities of companies. EITI, GNI and others were also reflections of this movement. The standards debate probably started to fully transition into issues of accountability about four or five years ago. But as the UN embraced this concept, much of this world had already moved on to defining accountability: independent monitoring (FLA or GNI), quasi-regulatory measures (IFC standards, lawsuits, or shareholder activism), and regulation (Dodd Frank). For existing initiatives, the issues centered around how to instill accountability. And for efforts like the Kimberley Process or EITI that have accountability mechanisms, the big questions are how to ensure compliance and make existing mechanisms more effective or responsive in today's world. Kimberley in particular is under pressure because of Zimbabwe and governments are very resistant to explicit human rights protections and more effective accountability mechanisms. The big issue, however, is when governments will start to regulate. The debate today is not about whether business has a responsibility for human rights but how can they and governments be accountable for those obligations.In other words, the concept of human rights of business standards is accepted, but now we are in the era of accountability. The HRC could have also endorsed the accountability agenda through a review mechanism and stronger guidelines, but it demurred. That was a missed opportunity. Hopefully the gap between efforts on accountability and the HRC's reiitncgoon of them won't be as large as the 12-13 year gap between the first standards and the present HRC reiitncgoon of the concept of human rights standards for business.