BHRJ Blog
Welcome to the blog of the Business and Human Rights Journal, an authoritative platform for scholarly debate on all issues concerning the intersection of business and human rights in an open, critical and interdisciplinary manner.
Latest posts:
- The EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement and Corporate Accountability: Opportunities and Limitations for Protecting Human Rights
- Justice Without Business and Human Rights Jurisdiction: The Case of the EACJ as a Regional Judicial-Based Remedy Mechanism
- Building on Nyerere: Rethinking Business and Human Rights in the African Charter
- The Making of an African Approach to Business and Human Rights through the Repurposing of Individual “Duties”
- Africa as Norm-Maker: Introducing the BHRJ/ALS Blog Symposium “Gathering Perspectives on African Leadership in Business and Human Rights: Lessons, Innovations, and Future Pathways”
The EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement and Corporate Accountability: Opportunities and Limitations for Protecting Human Rights
Bridging Trade and Human Rights in Southern Africa The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) States represents a significant milestone in regional trade integration. Yet beneath its economic provisions lies a more complex question: can trade agreements effectively advance corporate accountability for human rights? This agreement…
Justice Without Business and Human Rights Jurisdiction: The Case of the EACJ as a Regional Judicial-Based Remedy Mechanism
Introduction Pursuant to Article 23 (1) of the EAC Treaty 1999, the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) is the primary judicial organ of the East African Community (EAC or the Community). Article 9(1)(e) of the Treaty requires Partner States to apply and interpret the EAC Treaty. As the main judicial organ of the Community, …
Building on Nyerere: Rethinking Business and Human Rights in the African Charter
Starting on Solid Ground Regions across the so-called ‘Global South’ are rich in resources, such as oil, minerals, cobalt, gold and fertile agricultural land, that are scarce elsewhere, making them highly attractive to the ‘rest of the world’. Over time, the geographic allocation of these resources evolved into an intense global demand which was soon…
The Making of an African Approach to Business and Human Rights through the Repurposing of Individual “Duties”
The African System as a “Norm Leader” As Obiora Okafor and Godwin Dzah wrote, the African human rights system is rarely imagined as “an originator, agent and purveyor” of norms. By examining three norms – the right to self-determination, the right to development, and the right to environment – Okafor and Dzah argue that the…
Africa as Norm-Maker: Introducing the BHRJ/ALS Blog Symposium “Gathering Perspectives on African Leadership in Business and Human Rights: Lessons, Innovations, and Future Pathways”
Setting the Stage The Business and Human Rights (BHR) field has long been dominated by frameworks emanating from the Global North, most notably the 2011 United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), and more recently the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), among others. These instruments represent genuine normative progress…
Beyond Do No Harm: Business Responsibilities When Markets Become Essential Infrastructure
On the first week of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, supermarket chain ATB opened selected “pivot” stores, enabled cash withdrawals, held prices at last pre-war levels, rerouted supplies, introduced purchase limits on basic goods, and offered extra incentives for staff and drivers working in dangerous areas (ATB wartime statement). The decision that private companies make…
Soft Law in the Shadow of Hard Law: Can Japan’s METI Guidelines Act as a Transitional Model for Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence?
The record of voluntary business and human rights regulation has often been disappointing. Germany’s 2016 National Action Plan (NAP) on Business and Human Rights, for example, aimed for at least half of German companies with more than 500 employees to integrate five core elements of human rights due diligence (HRDD) into their business processes. By…
From Meaningful Engagement and Consultation to Climate Change Considerations: The Wild Coast Decision from the Constitutional Court of South Africa
On 14 August 2026, the South African Constitutional Court (CC) delivered its decision in The Sustaining the Wild Coast NPC and Others v Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy and Others case, bringing an end to the long-running litigation on oil and gas exploration and extraction along South Africa’s Wild Coast. Initially, the dominant concerns…
Corporations Constructing International Human Rights Law
The relationship between corporations and international human rights is an uneasy one. Efforts have been made to harness the benefits of corporations to facilitate the sustainable development of states, while simultaneously attempting to close the gap between corporations’ economic goals and their adverse impacts on human rights. These efforts have produced some crucial, yet incomplete,…
Banned at Home, Sold Abroad: Corporate Due Diligence and the Export Door Europe Left Open
In July 2026, Delhi Police stationed two surveillance vehicles outside Jantar Mantar, the site the police designate for protest in the capital. Assembly elsewhere in New Delhi is not unlawful in itself. It requires police permission, and prohibitory orders under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 sit over the district often enough…
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