ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION A discussion of human rights provides both historical and contemporary contexts for examining ethical decision making on the international business issues presented in subsequent chapters. The concept of human rights attempts to set out global deontological standards that place priority value on the individual rather than on groups or institutions. In theory, these basic individual rights cannot be ethically overridden by teleological claims that outcomes in particular cases would yield better results, even for a majority of people. In practice, the specific enumeration of human rights principles, including potential conflicts between different rights, presents implementation difficulties for use as consensus guidelines. Despite this practical challenge, international policy debates increasingly appeal to human rights concepts and principles as the basis for nascent global conduct standards.
