Harvard Kennedy School Professor Proposes Framework for Businesses and Human Rights

CAMBRIDGE, MA — There was a day not long ago when corporations were not expected to have a social conscience. John Ruggie, Kirkpatrick professor of international affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, is working to change that to ensure transnational businesses are more accountable for their actions and transactions.

Ruggie, who had previously served as under-secretary to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, was named in 2005 as Special U.N. Representative for Business and Human Rights, and his term was recently extended for another three years. His final report, “Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights,” was presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council in June 2008.

The proposed framework suggests assigning responsibilities to relevant international actors in hopes of bridging “governance gaps” caused by globalization. Bridging these gaps, Ruggie argues, will in turn buttress the fight against human rights abuses in the workplace.

Ruggie’s work on human rights and corporate social responsibility is emblematic of the mission at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (M-RCBG), of which Ruggie has served as Weil Director since 2002. The center was established 25 years ago to bring leading researchers together to strengthen the relationship between the public and private sector when enacting policy.

“The balance between business and government has shifted back and forth in recent decades,” Ruggie says. “We’ve got to get over an either-or mentality if we are to deal with pressing indispensable roles to play that it cannot—and must not—relegate to the other. Our aim at the center is to define those roles to suggest the best means of putting them into practice.”

One way the center is bridging theory and practice is through the work of the school’s Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, a multi-disciplinary collaborative program that explores the intersection of corporate responsibility, corporate governance, public policy and international development. Ruggie has served as faculty chair of the program since its inception.

Under Ruggie’s leadership, M-RCBG has developed a robust research agenda focusing on American economic growth and international competitiveness; improving the impact of public policy on private incentives to invest and innovate; and enacting regulatory reforms. Today the center’s work touches on every aspect of the business and government intersection, with both national and global impacts.