Title: Responsibility to accountability: a paradigm shift in business and human rights interface

Authors: P.R. Aneesha

Addresses: Department of Law, School of Indian Legal Thought, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India

Abstract: When the role of business in society got elaborated due to globalisation, corporations began to have control in the life of the people. The changed neoliberal economy poses new challenges to human rights. Corporate social responsibility was developed and evolved in this context to make the corporations more responsible towards society and to contribute to the developmental and welfare measures as a token of gratitude to the society for utilising the natural and other social resources at the expense of all other members of the society. But the whole framework of CSR is built upon a voluntary paradigm which does not in any way create any legal obligation on corporations. This paper is an enquiry into the need of fixing the accountability standards for business corporations in terms of human rights. The theoretical and practical limitations of bringing it out have also been discussed.

Keywords: corporate accountability; business and human rights; human rights and business interface.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRCS.2019.102484

International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, 2019 Vol.6 No.4, pp.322 - 344

Received: 22 Jan 2019
Accepted: 26 Jan 2019
Published online: 27 Sep 2019 *

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