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Project
Business & Human Rights in European Union policies
Dr. Chiara Macchi (Law Group) assesses the coherence of the European Union’s approach to business and human rights.
She has been awarded a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship to conduct a 2-year project on ‘The EU as a leading global actor in Business and Human Rights: Towards a coherent policy framework’ (BHR_EU), focusing on the coherence of EU policies in the realm of business and human rights.
Relevance of the research
The European Union (EU) is a leading global actor in the domain of Business and Human Rights (BHR) given the importance of its market and the advanced regulatory efforts it has put in place in relevant domains. Human rights and sustainable development are core EU values and lay at the basis of its Common Commercial Policy (CCP). While being one of the major and most active voices in the BHR debate of the last decades, the EU does not currently have in place a comprehensive BHR policy framework capable of ensuring coherence between its human rights obligations, its CSR policies and its trade and investment policies. At the same time, in the EU approach to BHR, a tension persists between a voluntaristic model of CSR and the adoption of hard-law solutions capable of inducing change in business practices and of improving access to effective remedies in Europe for victims of business-related human rights abuses. While the announced EU Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct has not been adopted, yet, there are growing calls on the EU from civil society, Member States, MEPs and representatives of national Parliaments to adopt binding legislation in several BHR-related policy areas. As the EU is one of the main supporters of a meaningful implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and has taken a critical stance on the possible adoption of an international binding treaty in this domain, it has a strong interest in ensuring the coherence and credibility of its approach to BHR.
Research aims
It is against this background that the BHR_EU project analyzes the EU’s leading role in BHR while highlighting areas of policy incoherence and inconsistency, as well as proposing ways to elaborate and devise an effective EU policy framework on BHR. The research will come to conclusions on how to more effectively integrate human rights considerations into the CCP, as well as on the necessity to work towards the adoption of EU-level human rights due diligence legislation.
Supervision
The research is carried out under the supervision of Prof. Nadia Bernaz of the Law Group.
Network
In the course of her research, Dr. Macchi will spend a short secondment period at the Centre for EU Studies of the University of Ghent, directed by Prof. Jan Orbie.
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Publication list
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A Glass Half Full: Critical Assessment of EU Regulation 2017/821 on Conflict Minerals
Journal of Human Rights Practice (2021), Volume: 13, Issue: 2 - ISSN 1757-9619 - p. 270-290. -
Business and human rights implications of climate change litigation : Milieudefensie et al. v Royal Dutch Shell
Review of European, Comparative and International Environmental Law (2021), Volume: 30, Issue: 3 - ISSN 2050-0386 - p. 409-415. -
Business, Human Rights and Climate Due Diligence: Understanding the Responsibility of Banks
Sustainability (2021), Volume: 13, Issue: 15 - ISSN 2071-1050
More publications
- C. Macchi, T. Van Ho, L. F. Yanes, 'Investor Obligations in Occupied Territories: A Report on the Norwegian Government Pension Fund - Global', Essex Business and Human Rights Project, 2019
- C. Macchi, 'Right to Water and the Threat of Business: Corporate Accountability and the State's Duty to Protect', 35(3) Nordic Journal of Human Rights (2017) 186
- C. Macchi, ‘The Draft EU Regulation on Conflict Minerals: “Smart Mix” or Missed Opportunity?’, Rights As usual, 2006
- E. Giuliani, C. Macchi, ‘Multinational corporations’ economic and human rights impacts on developing countries: a review and research agenda’, 38(2) Cambridge Journal of Economics (2014) 479
- C. Macchi, ‘”Foreign Direct Liability Claims” in Europa: Sviluppi Recenti e Sfide Future’, SIDIBlog, 2018
- C. Macchi, ‘A Treaty on Business and Human Rights: Problems and Prospects', in: J.L. Černič, N. Carrillo (Eds.), The Future of Business and Human Rights, Intersentia (2018) 63
- C. Macchi, E. Giuliani, ‘Human Rights and European business: The ILVA case’, in: G. Suder, M. Riviere, J. Lindeque (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to European Business, Routledge (2018) 341
- C. Macchi (2020). ‘The Climate Change Dimension of Business and Human Rights: The Gradual Consolidation of a Concept of ‘Climate Due Diligence’’. Business and Human Rights Journal, 1-27. doi:10.1017/bhj.2020.25
- C. Macchi (2020) ‘With trade comes responsibility: the external reach of the EU’s fundamental rights obligations 2020’, Transnational Legal Theory. 11, 4, p. 409-435.
- Schebesta, H., Bernaz, N. & Macchi, C. (2020) The European Union Farm to Fork Strategy: Sustainability and Responsible Business in the Food Supply Chain, In : European Food and Feed Law Review. 15, 5, p. 420-427
- C. Macchi, Claire Bright, ‘Hardening soft law: the implementation of Human Rights Due Diligence requirements in domestic legislations’, in: L. Magi, M. Buscemi, D. Russo, N. Lazzerini (Eds.), Legal Sources in Business and Human Rights: Evolving Dynamics in International and European Law, Brill 2020, p. 218
- C. Macchi, ‘The SDGs and the urgency of human rights in times of crisis’, Mo* Magazine, 19 May 2020
- C. Macchi ‘We will not survive pandemics and climate change without a shift from 'corporate capture' to 'circular responsibility'’, Business and Human Rights Journal Blog, 4 April 2020