Balancing Soft and Hard Law for Business and Human Rights

Abstract

In the wake of increasing corporate disasters, there has been an urgent need to address business impacts on human rights. Yet business responsibilities for human rights are mainly voluntary and likely best termed 'soft law'. Recently, however, several states have begun negotiations for an international binding treaty in this area suggesting a need to turn to 'hard law' to increase the efficacy of business and human rights (BHR) initiatives. This article argues that because soft and hard law concepts are not dichotomous, BHR governance need not become 'hard law' to be effective. Rather 'hardened' soft law instruments can be equally effective.

Steps towards a CSR binding paradigm

“…Yet, while praising state regulation, we also acknowledge that it has to be layered in a complex system composed of different kinds of regulation from soft soft to hard hard laws to allow more flexibility and rapidity to adapt to global firms and business practices. Thus, appropriate governance strategy for business human rights issues needs to draw from both soft and hard law initiatives (Choudhury, 2018), and to include a wider variety of actors than just MNCs, suppliers, workers and governments of developing countries.…”