Institutional Investors and Corporate Practice: Why We Need More than Management Process Frameworks for Business and Human Rights

Abstract

Institutional investors have an important role to play in encouraging high standards of corporate responsibility performance in the companies in which they are invested. Yet, while issues such as climate change now receive significant investor attention, the same cannot be said for human rights. This paper argues that the absence of an agreed normative framework against which corporate human rights performance can be assessed is a central reason why institutional investors pay relatively attention to human rights in their investment processes. The paper argues that the framework proposed by the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights (the Guiding Principles) does not effectively address this shortcoming. It concludes by setting out the authors' views on what an effective accountability framework for business and human rights would look like, and analyses these proposals in the context of the recommendations made by the Special Representative.