BRIEF

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Current remedies for business-related human rights abuses such as trafficking in persons, child labor, violence against labor protestors, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, land seizures, and multiple others are patchy, unpredictable, often ineffective and fragile. This fails both victims, who have little access to justice, and businesses, which often operate in environments of legal uncertainty and where participants are not competing on a level playing field.

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Arbitration offers the possibility of a consent-based remedy to victims of human rights abuses when domestic courts are unavailable due to lack of capacity, lack of impartiality or jurisdictional obstacles. There have been growing discussions on the subject, however there are several key questions, such as, whether BHR disputes meet the “commercial relationship” requirements for International Arbitration. We seek to address such issues and create a discussion on it, involving lawyers, business professionals, academics and students.

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KEY ISSUES DISCUSSED

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• Protection of Investors versus Protection of Human Rights in International Arbitration

• Resolving Business and Human Rights Disputes: The Experience So Far

• Business and Human Rights Arbitration: What’s in it for the corporations?

• Arbitrability of human rights disputes

• Business and Human Rights Arbitration: Opportunities & Challenges

• Forums for the Future: New opportunities for using arbitration