Business and Human Rights

 

by Deborah Miarkowska

 Business and human rights - upholding the market’s social darwinism.

An interesting paper take a look…

Authors: de Regil,A.
Produced by: Jus Semper Global Alliance (2008)

This paper critiques UN Special Representative for Business and Human Rights John Ruggie’s recent report on the responsibilities of business towards human rights.

The author argues that Ruggie’s vision in the report is in open conflict with the basic concept of democracy and of true long-term sustainability, as he continues to uphold the market as the principle that reigns supreme over the lives of societies across the world. The author claims that Ruggie ignores the customary, massive, ubiquitous and systemic violation of a wide range of human rights that the market exerts over billions of people.

The author challenges Ruggie’s view that the governance gaps between the markets’ footprint on human rights and society’s capacity to manage it are the root cause of the abuse of human rights. He says the governance gaps are only the symptom as a consequence of the overwhelming dominance of the market over all aspects of human life including the role of governments.

The author says Ruggie’s proposed principles would be adequate only if he would first agree:

that markets must be made subservient to people and planet and must serve only as vehicles to produce material welfare for society; and
that the purpose of today’s societies must be the sustainable welfare of people and planet and not of markets

The author contends that it is futile to address the customary violation of human rights in the business ethos if Ruggie does not address the root of the problem. The problem, according to the author, lies in the fact that true democracy has been supplanted by ‘marketocracy’ and, thus, has disabled the States ability to impose a regulatory framework that effectively protects human rights from corporate malfeasance.

Consequently, the author says, “as long as we do not demand from our governments a universal and legally-binding framework to protect human rights from business’ predatory practices -that becomes integrated as a core element of international law, with power to impose penalties commensurate with the harm inflicted - we will remain “in a sea of rhetoric rights, deception and posturing”.

The author also claims that Ruggie is clearly not qualified to come up with solutions that address the real problem for he is a staunch defendant of the status quo. Neither in this report nor in his previous reports has he addressed the lack of true democratic practice that engulfs the world nor the domination of public policy by market-centred criteria.

Available online at:
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=41472

« back to previous page

Comments are closed.