Welcome to the course on Business and Human Rights!
Companies have, especially where they operate at the global level as multinational enterprises, become increasingly powerful and have the ability to severely impact peoples’ lives and the environments in which they operate. While those companies generally bring benefits to society in the form of tax revenues and investment, employment opportunities, and technological advancement; the operations, actions and influence of private companies can also have a detrimental effect on the rights of their employees and the wider community.
The question of respect for human rights and accountability for violations by companies has been the subject of increasing debate at both international and national levels. Whilst the primary duty to ensure the protection of human rights lies with States, companies are increasingly becoming aware of their own responsibility in this field.
A number of important legal and policy developments have been adopted at the national and international level, and companies are increasingly seeking to develop practices and processes to meet the growing standards and expectations.
This updated course addresses the legal frameworks, methodologies, and practical actions on how States, corporate actors and legal professionals can prevent, mitigate, and remedy potential or actual corporate related human rights abuses.
It was developed under the Project “Online Platform for Business and Human Rights”, implemented by the HELP programme in cooperation with the Council of Europe Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), funded by the Dutch and German authorities. The views herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official position of Germany or the Netherlands.
In association with this project, this course has been developed alongside the HELP Course on The Environment and Human Rights. These two courses are intended as complementary resources that can be taken together or separately.
This updated Business and Human Rights course contains an Introductory Module and 4 Substantive Modules. The overall length of the course is approximatively six hours and those who complete it in self-learning format can obtain an electronic ‘Statement of accomplishment’.
The updated version of this course was published in 2021.
For more information please consult the course brief.Please click on the language codes below to select a language in which you would like to take the course
2021 Edition: eng | bul | deu | ita | kat | lit | mkd | spa | srp