past projects

Simply Put: Towards an effective UK regime for environmental and social reporting by companies

The study was commissioned by the Corporate Responsibility (CORE) Coalition against the background of recent UK coalition government consultations on the future of non-financial reporting by UK companies. The study examines why the current legal framework for social and environmental reporting is failing and what changes to the law need to be made to take the guesswork out of corporate compliance.

A copy of the report can be accessed here
http://corporate-responsibility.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Simply-Put.pdf

Extraterritorial jurisdiction: Lessons for the Business and Human Rights Sphere from Six Regulatory Areas

This study was commissioned by the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative of the Harvard Kennedy Law School to inform the mandate of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie. The aim was to examine why and how states seek to influence foreign private actors in six different regulatory areas – anti-corruption, securities law, anti-trust, criminal law, civil law and environmental law – to see what lessons can be drawn for the Business and Human Rights sphere.

A copy of the report can be accessed here
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/CSRI/publications/workingpaper_59_zerk.pdf

Tackling corporate abuse abroad

This study was commissioned by the Corporate Responsibility (CORE) Coalition. The aim was to identify and evaluate the different regulatory options that might be open to the UK government to help alleviate the social and environmental problems resulting from the activities of UK companies abroad. Deficiencies in the current regulatory system were illustrated using a series of case studies from different industrial and commercial sectors. Different regulatory options were compared using a demand/wish evaluation technique and then ranked according to which would be likely to have most impact in terms of improving poor performance and resolving real life problems and disputes.

Download a copy of the report here ...

Corporate complicity for human rights abuses: the civil law context

The brief was to examine the factors behind the growth of "human rights litigation" against companies and to assess its usefulness as way of achieving greater "corporate accountability" in this area. A "comparative" approach was called for (i.e. comparing the different legal approaches in different common law jurisdictions). The final report then fed into the deliberations of the International Commission of Jurists expert panel on Corporate Complicity in International Crimes and their substantial 2008 report on the subject.

For further information visit
www.business-humanrights.org/Updates/Archive/ICJPaneloncomplicity