It is widely recognised that scholarship on business and human rights has so far engaged relatively scarcely in empirical analysis and that as a result, various hypotheses about business and human rights performance have not been properly tested. In response, the Centre for Human Rights in Practice (CHRP) has worked together with US-based non-profit research organization Nomogaia to undertake a sustained programme of empirical research on key business and human rights issues. The work so far has two key elements.

Can Corporate Grievance Mechanisms Provide Effective Remedy for Human Rights Violations?

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) are based on three ‘pillars’. The third includes the requirement that companies will participate in grievance mechanisms to provide access to remedies for human rights abuses. Nomogaia and CHRP investigated the grievance mechanisms of six leading multi-stakeholder initiatives to understand how they operated in practice. These are the Bangladesh Accord, Bonsucro, the Fair Labour Association (FLA), the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF), the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and the Roundtable and Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

The results of this research including a policy brief, academic articles and a video presentation are available here.

Investigating the Practice of Human Rights Due Diligence

Human rights due diligence (HRDD) looks set to become a mandatory obligation imposed on many larger businesses by a variety of governments globally. But our understanding of HRDD is currently constrained by lack of research into how it is operationalised in practice. Supported by Nomogaia, CHRP undertook a study of HRDD by interviewing practitioners/consultants who undertake HRDD for companies.

The study identifies three key challenges to making HRDD effective; (1) methodological uncertainty about key aspects of the process (2) power dynamics between critical actors who are charged with undertaking vital aspects of HRDD and (3) the nature of the competition which takes place between HRDD practitioners. It makes recommendations for how these challenges can be overcome.

The results of this research including a policy brief, working paper and a video presentation are available here.