ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the interaction between Corporate Social Responsibility, human rights and the law. It focuses on the shared definition of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, as defined by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), which the Human Rights Council 'endorsed' in 2011. This responsibility is recognized to exist, not as a legally binding standard founded in international human rights law, but rather as a standard of conduct founded on social expectations, more specifically 'a standard of expected conduct acknowledged in virtually every voluntary and soft-law instrument related to corporate responsibility'. National authorities can refer to the human rights due diligence concept when revisiting rules and regulations for the purpose of realigning them with the expectation that business enterprises respect human rights by reference to universally recognized human rights standards and principles. The UNGPs do not expect States to depart from their existing classic legal duties to protect in relation to human rights.
