Ireland and the UN Framework for Business and Human Rights: A Conference

The Irish Centre for Human Rights and the School of Law, National University of Ireland Galway, will hold a conference on 24 March 2012 to explore and analyse issues of law and policy for Ireland arising from the 2011 adoption by the United Nations of Professor John Ruggie's framework for business and human rights. The framework emphasises a State's duty to protect human rights, a corporate responsibility to respect human rights and the need to provide remedies to respond to violations of human rights by business. This conference seeks to look beyond the voluntary corporate social responsibility approach to business and human rights; as Maurice Manning, President of the Irish Human Rights Commission has observed, 'voluntarism can never be a substitute for global standards on businesses' mandatory compliance with human rights'. The organisers welcome in particular contributions which address seek to address legal questions which arise in relation to the UN framework on business and human rights. Ireland represents an obvious case study in this context, given the presence of numerous multinational corporations, increasing privatisation of public services and allegations of corporate involvement in human rights violations both in and outside of Ireland. The conference aims to address the following topics:

·         Legal and policy approaches to regulation of Irish companies for human rights

·         Obligations of the State and companies when public functions are privatised

·         Role of extraterritorial jurisdiction in Irish law to address violations committed overseas by Irish companies or multinationals based here

·         The potential role of criminal law to address violations of human rights by business

·         Civil litigation as a means accountability - lessons from the Alien Tort Claims Act

·         Remedies for victims

Abstracts should be sent by 21 December 2011 to: Dr Shane Darcy (shane.darcy@nuigalway.ie) and Dr Ciara Hackett (ciara.hackett@nuigalway.ie). Successful applicants will be informed in January 2012 of their acceptance. For further information and registration for the conference please contact:
Hadeel Abu Hussein: h.abushussein1@nuigalway.ie