ABOUT

The research project aims at exploring the current regime for business and human rights in the Slovenian and international legal order and as the first research to design original theoretical and normative model and practical solutions for their reform. The original approaches to improving normative legal orders have been lacking in the business and human rights both at home and at international level, and thereafter at implementation phase. As a result, the project will try to fill the gap by providing a set of holistic tools and contents for decision-makers both at domestic and international levels to reform domestic and international legal frameworks in the area of corporate responsibility for human rights.

The central research problem represents a holistic approach to design theoretical and normative model for business and human rights regulation by reforming Slovenian and international legal normative orders. Various experts agree that corporations are obliged to respect human rights. However, the current system for business and human rights has been in the Slovenian and international legal order inadequate, insufficient and inappropriate, since it does not clearly establish framework for corporate obligations to respect human rights and to enforce corporate accountability. Therefore, in recent years, civil society has in recent years voiced concerns and argued to strengthen existing regulation by adoption of binding corporate human rights obligations at domestic and international levels.

The research project places itself in the field of business and human rights, which requires a highly comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach. The research project proceeds from their previous foundational research and represents the relationship between respect and the provision of human rights on the one hand and the economic spheres of life, including key actors in this field, on the other. We will address the theoretical basis for understanding this aspect of human rights (the legal point of view will be at the forefront, which will be supplemented by the philosophical and economic point of view) as well as the normative-practical aspect, where we will examine the current situation (globally, and especially within the Slovenian legal order) and set out guidelines and foundations for reform in this area, which can bring the actual situation closer to an holistic model that will be developed at the level of theory.

From the point of view of theoretical and ethical normative reflection, the goal is to be able to design, plan and establish an appropriate framework of supranational or global justice, which will go beyond traditional concepts and recognize the dynamics of a changing world, identifying basic pillars of business and human rights. The development of the framework of global ethics will in particular be followed by the recognition that the main challenges (including the ethical challenges) that we face are global in nature and require a mutual response. This will enable the use of this wider framework also with other issues in the field of global justice, such as environmental issues, community membership, and others. At the same time, this framework will allow the use and operationalization at the normative level, both at national and international level. The research project will critically investigate the shortcomings of the current frameworks in domestic legal systems, with the emphasis on the Slovenian legal order in order to develop a holistic theoretical and normative models for improving regulation of business and human rights.