Our Intesa Sanpaolo Research Fellow Rita Mota has published her latest article, which explores the impact of soft law instruments on banks.
The article, in the American University International Law Review, identifies the global soft law instruments that organisations such as the UN are using to clarify and enforce good practice among banks, and the firms that the banks invest in. Rita Mota writes: 'The impact that businesses can have on human rights (HR) has attracted high levels of attention in the last decade, but the legal framework remains confusing. HR have traditionally been construed vertically as a shield protecting individual citizens from actual or potential harm inflicted by states, rather than corporations or other non-state actors. Corporate HR responsibility is currently governed by a puzzle of soft law instruments of questionable efficacy, and attempts at regulating business conduct under international HR law have invariably failed. The current HR obligations imposed upon businesses by existing legal frameworks are therefore very poorly constructed.'