A webinar organized by the AIB Sustainability Shared Interest Group (SIG), öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster on Monday 7^th June 2021, 3PM

Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) are under increasing pressure to ensure that their supply chains are sustainable. Several high-profile industrial accidents in developing countries, most notably the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, raised public consciousness about the risks associated with the unregulated expansion of global value chains (GVCs) around the world. Although self-regulatory certification systems and multi stakeholder initiatives seeking to address such risks have grown rapidly, civil society, and the public more broadly, are often skeptical about the effectiveness of these approaches. Governments have therefore come under increasing pressure to regulate the international activities of their MNEs. The negative impact of COVID-19 on many developing country workers has further contributed to this dynamic. In this webinar they will explore the evolution of Human Rights Due Diligence from voluntary corporate actions to increasing government regulation, highlighting, in particular, recent developments in the EU and its member states.

Claire Bright (Nova Law School, Lisbon and British Institute of International and Comparative Law) will discuss the overall context, where at the global level, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, agreed in 2011, established guidelines for both states and MNEs aimed at preventing and addressing human rights abuses within global business operations. Louise Curran (TBS, France) will highlight the key aspects of the French Duty of Vigilance Law of 2017, which imposes a legal standard of care on large companies, with the potential for legal action in case of non-compliance. Elke Schüßler (JKU Linz) will discuss the state of play in Germany and draw on her research in the post-Rana Plaza garment sector to discuss its likely impacts on MNEs.