Human rights and corporate social responsibility in Southeast Asia

‘Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility in Southeast Asia’ offers three reasons why human rights are a marginalised business issue in Southeast Asia. First, there is weak political will to monitor business actors given a general rollback in state interest to protect human rights. Second, international efforts led by the United Nations to promote human rights and business through global rights discourse has fallen short. Finally, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has struggled to establish itself as a legitimate advocate and protector of human rights. This chapter concludes with a premise that, until governments start consistently promoting human rights as a business issue, there is little incentive for companies to take rights seriously let alone United Nations voluntary initiatives.