Building a Treaty on Business and Human Rights: Context and Contours

The calls for an international treaty to elaborate the human rights obligations of transnational corporations and other business enterprises have been rapidly growing, due to the failures of existing regulatory initiatives in holding powerful business actors accountable for human rights abuses. In response, Building a Treaty on Business and Human Rights explores the context and content of such a treaty. Bringing together leading academics from around the world, this book engages with several key areas: the need for the treaty and its scope; the nature and extent of corporate obligations; the role of state obligations; and how to strengthen remedies for victims of human rights violations by business. It also includes draft provisions for a proposed treaty to advance the debate in this contentious area and inform future treaty negotiations. This book will appeal to those interested in the fields of corporate social responsibility, and business and human rights.

Surya Deva is an Associate Professor at the School of Law of the City University of Hong Kong, and a Member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights. Deva's primary research interests lie in business and human rights, corporate social responsibility, India-China constitutional law and sustainable development. He has published extensively in these areas, and has previously advised UN bodies, states, multinational corporations and civil society organisations on such matters. He is one of the founding Editors-in-Chief of the Business and Human Rights Journal.

David Bilchitz is a Professor of Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Law at the University of Johannesburg and Director of the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law (SAIFAC). He is the Secretary General of the International Association of Constitutional Law and was elected as a member of the South African Young Academy of Science. He has written extensively in the field of business and human rights, and in 2013 he co-edited Human Rights Obligations of Business (Cambridge) with Surya Deva.