An integrated approach to corporate due diligence from a human rights, environmental, and TWAIL perspective

Abstract

Ten years since the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, we have witnessed an increasing trend in Europe toward the adoption of mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence. Focusing on due diligence legislation from France, Germany, Norway, and the EU, this article examines the extent to which these laws are laying the foundations for the articulation of an integrated, comprehensive, and robust framework that effectively fosters corporate accountability through preventing, addressing, and remedying corporate‐related human rights and environmental harms. In this examination, we draw on international human rights and environmental standards and Third World Approaches to International Law, to identify the lessons learned from current approaches and that ought to be considered in future frameworks.

The politics of supply chain regulations: Towards foreign corporate accountability in the area of human rights and the environment?

“…Without the possibility of influencing this crucial phase wherein decisions about the regulatory scope and fundamental characteristics are being established, there is no guarantee that rules are legitimate and appropriate for addressing problems on the ground. Against this background, Dehbi and Ortega (2023) and Mason et al (2023) emphasize the crucial importance of strengthening the participation of actors from the Global South in the drafting (and implementation) of HREDD laws (see also Elbel et al, 2023). In their commentary to this special issue, Mason and colleagues refer to the important inclusion of governments, stakeholders and rightsholders from the Global South as a necessary "decolonizing turn" in emergent HREDD regimes.…”

“…In comparison to the high thresholds established in the French and German laws, the emergent EU laws are more comprehensive in scope. Aiming to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in their tasks to exercise HREDD, the draft regulation of deforestation-free products simplifies the obligations for SMEs, while the draft directive on corporate sustainability due diligence requires that companies provide targeted and proportionate support to SMEs in their supply chains (see Dehbi & Martin-Ortega, 2023).…”

“…As Rajavuori and colleagues (2023) show, HREDD laws either explicitly cover companies' climate impacts, or they have been increasingly referred to for enhancing corporate accountability in this area. There has been an increasing recognition that environmental and human rights impacts are often intrinsically linked and therefore cannot be effectively addressed in isolation from each other (see Dehbi & Martin‐Ortega, 2023). Previous research on regulations with an exclusive environmental focus, such as the EUTR or the EU‐RED, highlighted that compliance with the laws can lead to negative unintended effects in the field of human rights (Ituarte‐Lima et al, 2019; Schilling‐Vacaflor, 2021b).…”

“…Kinchy & Schaffer, 2018; Newell, 2008). Dehbi and Martin‐Ortega (2023) highlight the important role that rightsholders should play in HREDD systems by providing insights on adverse impacts and effective measures for remediation.…”

The devil is in the detail—The need for a decolonizing turn and better environmental accountability in global supply chain regulations: A comment

“…• France's statist institutional tradition represents a state-centric model. We can observe the early adoption of HREDD and a salient enforcement model, in the French Duty of Vigilance Law, of civil liability and legal accountability (Dehbi & Martin-Ortega, 2023;Gustafsson et al, 2023a). It is possible in France to hold companies legally accountable for any human rights violations and environmental damages, which is the broadest legal codification anywhere of HREDD enforcement for these concerns.…”