ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 examines the corporate responsibility to respect human rights from a legal perspective. It focuses on the concept of human rights due diligence and its (legal) character as a standard of conduct and form of compliance. This involves an analysis of the interpretations of this concept and an evaluation of differences and similarities between this concept and other (legal) due diligence concepts used in various areas of law, including the duty of care concept under certain national (tort) laws of non-contractual obligations. The balancing act that the human rights due diligence concept entails will be explored further through a parallelism with the due diligence obligations that are applicable to States under international human rights law. The chapter will reflect on the functionality of the human rights due diligence concept in enabling and promoting future legal developments within legal systems. More specifically, it examines the potential of this concept to drive analytical improvements in, and facilitate convergence across, national laws affecting business behaviour. The human rights due diligence concept may be viewed as a reformatory concept, bound to fruitfully redefine the standards of due diligence that different areas of the legal order currently set out for business enterprises and thus also contribute to the reconceptualization of such laws.
