HUMAN RIGHTS AS A SOURCE FOR GLOBAL ETHICAL STANDARDS IN BUSINESS

Abstract

Human rights are universal moral rights of fundamental character. They may be perceived as the source of universal values that are applicable to business activity. Thus companies should be deemed obliged by the human rights' standards. Despite this it is difficult to construct international legal system that would refer these values in the form of hard law to companies and would build an effective system of companies liability for human rights violations. However, lack of effective legal system shall not be deemed as an obstacle for claiming that, when it comes to companies, human rights are the source of ethical norms. The paper analyses these issues. Firstly the application of human rights values to business activity is examined. This is made mainly by analysing international sources of companies human rights obligations. Afterwards the article answers the question whether an effective system of liability of companies for human rights violations have been built. The negative answer to this question serves as an argument for claiming that companies should have an objective due diligence policy so as to avoid adverse human rights impacts being caused by its activity.