ICAS ICAS logo

Quicklinks

  1. About Us

    Find out about who we are and what we do here at ICAS.

  2. Find a CA

    Search our directory of individual CAs and Member organisations by name, location and professional criteria.

  3. CA Magazine

    View the latest issues of the dedicated magazine for ICAS Chartered Accountants.

  4. Contact Us

    Get in touch with ICAS by phone, email or post, with dedicated contacts for Members, Students and firms.

Login
  • Annual renewal
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Find a CA
  1. About us
    1. Governance
  2. Members
    1. Become a member
    2. Newly qualified
    3. Manage my membership
    4. Benefits of membership
    5. Careers support
    6. Mentoring
    7. CA Wellbeing
    8. More for Members
    9. Area networks
    10. International communities
    11. Get involved
    12. Top Young CAs
    13. Career breaks
    14. ICAS podcast
    15. Newly admitted members 2022
    16. Newly admitted members 2023
  3. CA Students
    1. Student information
    2. Student resources
    3. Learning requirements
    4. Learning updates
    5. Learning blog
    6. Totum Pro | Student discount card
    7. CA Student wellbeing
  4. Become a CA
    1. How to become a CA
    2. Routes to becoming a CA
    3. CA Stories
    4. Find a training agreement
    5. Why become a CA
    6. Qualification information
    7. University exemptions
  5. Employers
    1. Become an Authorised Training Office
    2. Resources for Authorised Training Offices
    3. Professional entry
    4. Apprenticeships
  6. Find a CA
  7. ICAS events
    1. CA Summit
  8. CA magazine
  9. Insight series 2022
    1. Finance + Trust
    2. Finance + Technology
    3. Finance + EDI
    4. Finance + Mental Fitness
    5. Finance + Leadership
    6. Finance + Sustainability
  10. Professional resources
    1. Anti-money laundering
    2. Audit and assurance
    3. Brexit
    4. Charities
    5. Coronavirus
    6. Corporate and financial reporting
    7. Business and governance
    8. Ethics
    9. Insolvency
    10. ICAS Research
    11. Pensions
    12. Practice
    13. Public sector
    14. Sustainability
    15. Tax
  11. CPD - professional development
    1. CPD courses and qualifications
    2. CPD news and updates
    3. CPD support and advice
  12. Regulation
    1. Complaints and sanctions
    2. Regulatory authorisations
    3. Guidance and help sheets
    4. Regulatory monitoring
  13. CA jobs
    1. CA jobs partner: Rutherford Cross
    2. Resources for your job search
    3. Advertise with CA jobs
    4. Hays | A Trusted ICAS CA Jobs Partner
    5. Azets | What's your ambition?
  14. Work at ICAS
    1. Business centres
    2. Meet our team
    3. Benefits
    4. Vacancies
    5. Imagine your career at ICAS
  15. Contact us
    1. Technical and regulation queries
    2. ICAS logo request

Business and human rights

  • LinkedIn (opens new window)
  • Twitter (opens new window)
By ICAS

23 April 2021

A research project in support of her successful PhD by Dr Marisa McVey, now Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of St Andrews, School of Management and Research Fellow at Aston Law School, explores the corporate implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

ICAS Research supported and contributed to Marisa’s project, alongside the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (SGSSS), leading to Marisa kindly preparing a condensed and practical-oriented version of her PhD thesis for ICAS.

Background

Human rights are basic fundamental and inalienable freedoms, upheld through instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN General Assembly, 1948). Since the 1990s, the field of business and human rights has emerged as ‘an increasingly prominent feature on the international agenda’ (Ruggie, 2013), as a response to growing awareness and concern for the impacts of corporations on human rights - for example, as a result of poor working conditions, environmental pollution or violations of the rights of indigenous people through forced displacement.

Since their unanimous endorsement by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations in 2011, the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) have served as the central reference point for legislative and policy developments in the field of business and human rights. While ostensibly a soft law initiative, the UNGPs are increasingly being assimilated into national laws, with key concepts such as human rights due diligence (HRDD) now forming the basis of recent legislative initiatives. Despite these developments, little research has been undertaken into how the UNGPs are being implemented and internalised by corporations.

Research Objectives

This study pursued the following objectives:

  1. Examine how human rights are brought into and employed in the corporate space through the implementation of the UNGPs, particularly Pillar II – the corporate responsibility to respect human rights;
  2. Identify who is involved in this process, and how these actors understand and translate the UNGPs, human rights and HRDD in different contexts; and
  3. Examine how experts legitimise their expertise in the business and human rights ecosystem, and the roles they play in the UNGP implementation process.

Summary of research approach

To address these questions, qualitative case study research was undertaken at two multinational companies – an oil and gas company and a bank. Both case studies are real corporate examples, but are referred to as OilGas and CashMoney to preserve confidentiality.

Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with individuals that held human rights related roles at each company, as well as with external experts who advised or engaged with the companies on human rights issues. In total, 32 interviews were conducted – including 5 with internal participants from OilGas, 7 with internal participants from CashMoney and 20 external experts.

Findings

Evidence from this qualitative research suggests a number of interesting features of how human rights are brought into the corporate context and the legitimacy and role of external experts.

Findings from this study highlight issues including:

  • The utility of the UNGPs in terms of framing human rights issues
    The UNGPs are useful in translating human rights for corporations, and their perceived flexible framing is  seen as allowing a significant degree of autonomy over how businesses fulfil their responsibilities under them.
  • The translation of human rights into the corporate context and the professional and ethical challenge this presents
    Despite good intentions when translating human rights for businesses, the very process of implementing the UNGPs into the corporate context has the potential to subordinate human rights to management processes rather than transforming business practice.
  • The roles and perceived legitimacy of external experts that are engaged by companies
    The use of recognised external experts confers legitimacy to a company’s human rights practices – taking their responsibilities seriously and performing them to a high standard embodying both the spirit and the letter of the UNGPs.  Some questions however also arise in relation to the growing business of human rights expertise as a commercial endeavour by external parties.

Overall, this study provides a much-needed contribution to the expansion of interdisciplinary inquiry into business and human rights issues, evaluating the use of the UNGPs the realities and nuances of implementing human rights into the corporate context.

2023-01-markel 2023-01-markel
ICAS logo

Footer links

  • Contact us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice
  • CA magazine

Connect with ICAS

  • Facebook (opens new window) Facebook Icon
  • Twitter (opens new window) Twitter Icon
  • LinkedIn (opens new window) LinkedIn Icon
  • Instagram (opens new window) Instagram Icon

ICAS is a member of the following bodies

  • Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (opens new window) Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies logo
  • Chartered Accountants Worldwide (opens new window) Chartered Accountants Worldwide logo
  • Global Accounting Alliance (opens new window) Global Accounting Alliance
  • International Federation of Accountants (opens new window) IFAC
  • Access Accountancy (opens new window) Access Acountancy

Charities

  • ICAS Foundation (opens new window) ICAS Foundation
  • SCABA (opens new window) scaba

Accreditations

  • ISO 9001 - RGB (opens new window)
© ICAS 2022

The mark and designation “CA” is a registered trade mark of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), and is available for use in the UK and EU only to members of ICAS. If you are not a member of ICAS, you should not use the “CA” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to accountancy, tax or insolvency services. The mark and designation “Chartered Accountant” is a registered trade mark of ICAS, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and Chartered Accountants Ireland. If you are not a member of one of these organisations, you should not use the “Chartered Accountant” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to these services. Further restrictions on the use of these marks also apply where you are a member.

ICAS logo

Our cookie policy

ICAS.com uses cookies which are essential for our website to work. We would also like to use analytical cookies to help us improve our website and your user experience. Any data collected is anonymised. Please have a look at the further information in our cookie policy and confirm if you are happy for us to use analytical cookies: