Human Rights Due Diligence and Labour Governance

Human rights due diligence (HRDD) has emerged as a dominant frame through which to conceptualise and operationalise responsible business conduct with respect to workers' rights in global supply chains. Legislation mandating HRDD is now found in several European countries and across various national regulatory agendas. Many scholars, practitioners, and activists are actively calling for further legalisation, believing that this will broaden respect for human rights.
Yet to date, there has been little sustained scholarly analysis from a labour rights perspective. Observing that HRDD, as originally articulated in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, is open to multiple interpretations, this book examines global debates on the role and status of the concept. It also considers the implications of HRDD's ascension for transnational labour law as a distinct field of law, scholarship, and activism.
Combining insights from transnational governance and business regulation with empirical analysis, this book argues that HRDD is not being institutionalised at either the global or national level in a way that renders it a transformative or even robust mechanism of transnational labour law. It also draws attention to the important, but largely overlooked, ways in which the rise of HRDD is leading to subtle shifts in the configuration of actors and institutions in labour governance.

Ingrid Landau is a senior lecturer in the Department of Business Law and Taxation at Monash University, and a member of the Labour, Equality and Human Rights (LEAH) Research Group. She is a socio-legal scholar whose research spans labour law, business and human rights, regulatory studies, and transnational governance. She has published widely in Australian and international journals and has undertaken research for the Australian Fair Work Commission, trade union, and civil society organisations, and the International Labour Organisation. She holds a PhD from Melbourne Law School, and BA degrees in Asian Studies (Vietnamese) and Law (Hons) from the Australian National University.

- Table of Legislation - List of Abbreviations - 1: Introduction: The Rise of a New Concept in Transnational Labour Governance - 2: Situating HRDD in Transnational Labour Governance - 3: Unpacking HRDD: Risk Management, Business Regulation, Transnational Norm - 4: HRDD and Divergent Logics in Transnational Labour Governance - 5: HRDD at the OECD and the ILO - 6: Paths Diverge: The Interpolation of HRDD in National and Regional Law - 7: What Does HRDD Mean for Transnational Labour Governance? - 8: Towards a More Promising Trajectory for Human Rights Due Diligence as Transnational Labour Law - 9: Conclusion: A Pyrrhic Victory? Human Rights Due Diligence and Transnational Labour Law - Bibliography - Index