Description
Book SynopsisBusiness clients are increasingly seeking their lawyers’ advice and assistance with human rights due diligence (HRDD). Their clients must navigate compliance with a growing array of legal requirements and soft law standards defining the expectations of governments, investors, and society that businesses respect human rights. Consequently, new opportunities are arising for lawyers to provide services and advice to businesses on HRDD.
This guide, intended for U.S. and foreign lawyers alike, is an indispensable resource on HRDD that should assist lawyers with understanding not only the fundamentals of HRDD but also crucial aspects of the process.
Part I of the book examines the essentials of HRDD, including the HRDD process, lawyers’ ethical obligations related to HRDD, and key due diligence legal requirements. In Part II, practical aspects of implementing HRDD are explored, including corporate governance, HRDD’s relationship to compliance approaches, use of grievance mechanisms, stakeholder engagement, gender-sensitive HRDD, and consultation with indigenous peoples.
In this rapidly developing area, lawyers also need to be aware of key developments that will affect how their business clients perform HRDD. Therefore, the final section, Part III, addresses four of those key areas: suppliers in value chains, the financial sector, the intersection of environmental law and climate change issues with HRDD, and high-risk security situations, such as those in countries that are politically unstable or undergoing conflict.
The goal of the expert contributions to this book is to further lawyers’ understanding and to facilitate their role in assisting businesses to respect human rights, which should, at the same time, foster businesses’ contribution to sustainable development and the social factor of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance).
Table of ContentsContents
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
PART I
AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RIGHTS DUE DILIGENCE . . . . 1
Chapter 1
The Evolving Concept of Human Rights Due Diligence . . . . . . . . 3
Corinne E . Lewis
Chapter 2
The Due Diligence Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Hind Merabet
Chapter 3
Lawyers’ Ethical Obligations and Human Rights Due Diligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Steven M . Richman
Chapter 4
French Due Diligence Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
François de Cambiaire and Alice Murgier
Chapter 5
Human Rights Due Diligence Requirements Outside the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Esmira Hackenberg, Olivia Dean, and Shelley Marshall
PART II
APPROACHING HUMAN RIGHTS DUE DILIGENCE REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
A. A PRACTICAL APPROACH
Chapter 6
Human Rights Due Diligence and Corporate Governance . . . . 141
John F . Sherman III
Chapter 7
Integrating Human Rights Due Diligence into Compliance Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Anahita Thoms
Chapter 8
Making the Connection: Operational-Level Grievance Diligence . . . . 195
Lisa J . Laplante
Chapter 9
Stakeholder Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Shauna Curphey and Jared Cole
Chapter 10
Gender-Responsive Human Rights Due Diligence . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Constance Z . Wagner and Nancy Kaymar Stafford
Chapter 11
Human Rights Due Diligence Practices for Adequate and Effective Consultation with Indigenous Peoples . . . . . . . . . 277
Thomas Andrew O’Keefe
B. SPECIFIC CHALLENGES
Chapter 12
The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and Global Supply Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Andrea Shemberg and Bettina Braun
Chapter 13
Leveraging the Financial Sector for Human Rights . . . . . . . . . . 325
Margaret G . Wachenfeld
Chapter 14
Environmental Law and Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Carlos de Miguel Perales and Austin Pierce
Chapter 15
Due Diligence in Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas . . . . . 381
Morvarid Bagheri
Index ................................................................................... 403
