Melbourne Law School - Theses
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ItemRights, Risks and Rules: The Rise of Human Rights Due Diligence and Implications for Transnational Labour Governance( 2021)Over the last decade, the concept of human rights due diligence (‘HRDD’) has emerged as a dominant means through which to conceptualise and operationalise corporate responsibility for working conditions in transnational supply chains. This thesis applies a transnational labour law lens to HRDD. Proceeding from the observation that HRDD as originally articulated in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is open to multiple interpretations, this thesis examines contests that have taken place globally over the role and status of the concept as it relates to workers’ rights. It also considers the implications of HRDD’s ascension for transnational labour law, as a distinct field of law, scholarship and activism. Using conceptual and empirical analysis, this thesis argues that HRDD is not being institutionalised at either global or national level in a way that renders it a transformative or even robust mechanism of transnational labour law. This is despite the fact that the concept’s legalisation is being welcomed – indeed in part driven by – actors that believe it will broaden and deepen respect for workers’ rights in internal corporate processes and legal frameworks. This thesis further contends that the rise of HRDD is leading to subtle shifts in configurations of actors and institutions in transnational labour governance. Through its reframing of labour rights issues as matters for risk management, HRDD has facilitated the expansion within the field of for-profit actors such as management consultancies, risk advisory services and law firms. The proliferation of HRDD-related legislation at the national level is positioning courts to play a greater role in determining the nature and scope of corporate responsibility for workers’ rights in transnational supply chains. In addition, the rise of HRDD has enabled the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to consolidate its position as the leading global authority in the area of corporate accountability and labour rights. The OECD has successfully capitalised on the resonance of the HRDD frame with its apolitical working methods, and its technical expertise and formidable research capacity, to engage in an ambitious work programme on HRDD. In contrast, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has struggled to establish itself as an authority on HRDD or to generate broad-based support for related standard-setting activities. This thesis makes an original contribution to transnational labour law by examining an increasingly influential concept that has yet to receive sustained examination from scholars in the discipline. It also makes a novel contribution through its empirical investigation of a stage in the regulatory process that tends to be overlooked in transnational labour law scholarship: how an international labour norm, subsequent to its adoption, is shaped, translated and contested, by whom and with what implications.