Our teams invite interested persons to contribute articles in English or German to our online-symposium “Tackling Human Rights, Environmental Protection and Business – A Multilevel Approach”.
Who we are
The Völkerrechtsblog and Jean Monnet Saar offer young academics a platform for professional exchange in Public International Law and European Law. The Völkerrechtsblog facilitates scholarly discussion and exchange on international law and promotes networking with scholars from all world regions. As an academic blog, Jean Monnet Saar contributes to the open access transformation and makes European Law and developments in European integration accessible to a broad public.
Topic
Tackling Human Rights, Environmental Protection and Business – A Multilevel Approach
In recent years, the integration of human rights and environmental protection in the operations of transnational corporations has evolved significantly. As corporations expand their global reach, there is an increasingly urgent need for effective mechanisms to safeguard human rights and environmental standards across multiple jurisdictions. Questions arise about how to effectively integrate human rights and environmental protection in future corporate decision-making processes, especially after the unexpected acceptance of the compromise proposal for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive in the Council of the EU in March last year. The Directive’s increase in employee and revenue thresholds, as well as the exclusion of small enterprises from the high-risk category, have raised questions about whether it will be
sufficient to ensure robust protection of human rights and the environment in corporate activities around the world. The decision to postpone the CSRD’s reporting requirements has also exacerbated this issue.
This symposium aims to explore possibilities for monitoring and regulating business activities and their human rights and environmental impacts in a multilevel legal order. The call aims to explore the interactions between national, regional, and global systems to allow a deeper understanding of the complexities associated with addressing human rights and environmental challenges in the context of corporate activities. In a multilevel system, it is important to consider diverse approaches and perspectives and leverage synergies to address these issues. Given the rapidly evolving nature of the issue, this symposium will focus on the latest developments and emerging legal challenges. The symposium could be structured according to different levels to facilitate a comprehensive exploration of the topic.
The following outlines a few possible approaches to tackle the issue. These should be understood as suggestions only.
EU Perspective
- The CSDDD and its implications for transnational corporations
- Enforcement practices in European courts: the role of national courts or the Court of Justice of the EU in promoting human rights and environmental standards for transnational enterprises
- The Environmental Crime Directive (ECD) and its potential to tackle the challenges posed by corporate activities: Limits and potentialities of the ECD for corporate transnational operations within and outside of the EU
- Regulating the growing environmental impact of digitalization and artificial intelligence
Regional Perspective
- Council of Europe: Obligations under the ECHR and potential approaches to tackle exploitation of humans and the environment by transnational corporations
- Comparative analysis of different approaches in regional international law, such as the Inter American Human Rights system
Global Perspective
- The emergence of international standards: Different sources in Public International Law
- What role can the 2021-definition of the crime of ecocide play in the corporate context?
- Towards direct obligations of transnational corporations under public international law
- Permissible extraterritorial reach of corporate due diligence obligations
Publication Format
Blog posts with a length of up to 1,500 words are welcome.
Deadline
The deadline for submissions submissions is Friday 3rd October. The Symposium will take place between 28th October and 10th November.
Contact
If you have any questions or would like to submit a contribution, please contact us at:
editorial-team@voelkerrechtsblog.org
jeanmonnetsaar@europainstitut.de
We look forward to your contributions that will enrich our legal discourse on European and International topics.
