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‘What Does This Mean?’: How UK Companies Make Sense of Human Rights

Louise Obara

Business and Human Rights Journal, Volume: 2, Issue: 2, Pages: 249 - 273

Swansea University Author: Louise Obara

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DOI (Published version): 10.1017/bhj.2017.7

Abstract

How do companies understand and talk about human rights? Do they consider humanrights a moral, legal or political construct? What type of responsibility do they assumein respect of human rights (e.g. direct/indirect, narrow/broad)? Is the language andlabel of human rights used within day-to-day prac...

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Published in: Business and Human Rights Journal
ISSN: 2057-0198 2057-0201
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2017
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa61760
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Abstract: How do companies understand and talk about human rights? Do they consider humanrights a moral, legal or political construct? What type of responsibility do they assumein respect of human rights (e.g. direct/indirect, narrow/broad)? Is the language andlabel of human rights used within day-to-day practice? This article attempts to addressthese questions by drawing on empirical data collected as part of an in-depth,qualitative study on the development of human rights within 22 UK companies.Through an analysis based on sensemaking, the paper explores the meaning of humanrights, the grounds used to justify corporate responsibility, and the human rightsterminology and labels employed within the corporate setting. It then analyses whatthis understanding and discourse means for the debate about the role of private entitiesfor the protection of human rights
Keywords: understanding, sensemaking, justification, language, UK companies
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Issue: 2
Start Page: 249
End Page: 273