Description
Book SynopsisImportant new policy frameworks call on governments to ensure respect for human rights by businesses and to secure a transition to sustainable consumption. Public procurement accounts for a significant share of the global economy, and nearly 30% of government expenditure across OECD countries. But what are the obligations of the state to protect human rights when it acts as a buyer? And how can procurement be used to drive respect for human rights amongst government suppliers? This engaging book reflects on these important questions, from the dual disciplinary perspectives of public procurement and human rights.
Through legal analysis and practice-focused case studies, the expert contributors interrogate the role and potential of public procurement as a driver for responsible business conduct. Highlighting the character of public procurement as an interface for multiple normative regimes and competing policies, the book advances a compelling case for a shift to a new paradigm of sustainable procurement that embraces human rights as crucial to realising international policies such as those embodied in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Topical and thought-provoking, Public Procurement and Human Rights will be an essential read for academics and students of human rights law, public procurement law, and business and human rights, as well as practitioners in public procurement and sustainability, and government officials.
Contributors include: B.S. Claeson, E. Conlon, C. Emberson, P. Göthberg, O. Martin-Ortega, A. Marx, C. Methven O'Brien, C. Nicholas, O. Outhwaite, G. Quinot, D. Russo, A. Sanchez-Graells, J. Sinclair, R. Stumberg, A. Trautrims, N. Vander Meulen, S. Williams-Elegbe
Trade Review'Olga Martin-Ortega and Claire Methven O’Brien have edited an important book that centres the human rights questions arising from public procurement processes. The 14 chapters in Martin-Ortega and O’Brien’s edited book fill an important gap by undertaking an incisive and insightful analysis of the human rights implications of public procurement processes from a cross-disciplinary perspective.' -- Olabisi D Akinkugbe, Business and Human Rights Journal
‘Olga Martin-Ortega and Claire Methven O’Brien have collected the most sophisticated legal analyses of the different issues faced when considering human rights in buying procedures as they arise in different legal environments. They have included deeply thought through case studies on actual practices already at work in most relevant sectors such as electronics and apparel. This book will enlighten academics and policy-makers and help practitioners. Overall, it is conveying a very important message: human rights must be taken seriously in public procurement procedures!’ -- Roberto Caranta, University of Turin, Italy
Table of ContentsContents: Editors’ preface PART I INTRODUCTION 1. Public procurement and human rights: interrogating the role of the state as buyer Olga Martin-Ortega and Claire Methven O’Brien PART II FRAMEWORKS AND ACTORS 2. Human rights and national procurement rules in the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement Opi Outhwaite 3. Human rights in the context of public procurements financed by the World Bank Sope Williams-Elegbe 4. The human rights responsibilities of international organizations as procuring authorities Deborah Russo 5. Constitutionalising public procurement through human rights: lessons from South Africa Geo Quinot 6. Public procurement and ‘core’ human rights: a sketch of the European Union legal framework Albert Sanchez-Graells 7. Civil liability for abuses of ILO core labour rights in European Union government supply chains: Ireland as a case study Eamonn Conlon 8. Public procurement and human rights: current role and potential of voluntary sustainability standards Axel Marx PART III OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES: INSIGHTS FROM PRACTICE 9. Outsourcing and bonded labour in military and diplomatic security services James Sinclair 10. Public procurement and human rights in the healthcare sector: the Swedish county councils’ collaborative model Pauline Göthberg 11. Public procurement and modern slavery risks in the English adult social care sector Caroline Emberson and Alexander Trautrims 12. Making rights effective in public procurement supply chains: lessons from the electronics sector Björn Skorpen Claeson 13. Supply chain transparency in public procurement: lessons from the apparel sector Robert Stumberg and Nicole Vander Meulen PART IV CONCLUSION 14 Public procurement and human rights: towards legal and policy coherence in pursuit of sustainable market economies Claire Methven O’Brien and Olga Martin-Ortega Index
