Introduction to Business and Human Rights

Name: Introduction to Business and Human Rights
Rating: 5.0 (4 reviews)

By One Future Collective

Created byOne Future Collective

Last updated 9/2025

English

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What you'll learn

Understand the relationship between businesses and human rights
Recognise the importance of integrating human rights within business operations
Gain knowledge about the legal and policy instruments that govern the design and integration of human rights into businesses today
Understand how human rights commitments can be operationalized within business contexts

Course content

4 sections • 14 lectures • 3h 15m total length

Introduction6:54
Explore why human rights matter for businesses and how to integrate and operationalize rights within business operations, guided by key legal and policy instruments across four modules.
Interrelationship between Business and Human Rights13:37
Explore how businesses impact and uphold human rights through internal labor practices, external community and environmental impacts, and responsible partnerships, and why a human rights based approach should guide business strategy.
Importance of Integrating Human Rights Into Businesses10:57
Explore the interrelationship between business and human rights, analyzing the business case versus the moral and ethical case with examples from Sheehan, H&M, and Google.
Module 1 - Assignment

Tracing the Development of Business and Human Rights17:18
Trace the shift from shareholder primacy to stakeholder primacy, and summarize four phases of business and human rights, from 1930s debates to the 2011 UN guiding principles and due diligence.
Recent Trends in the Business and Human Rights Landscape15:54
Explore trends shaping business and human rights, from soft law to binding due diligence, and address AI bias, climate risks, ethical outsourcing, and responsible technology use.
Module 2 - Assignment

International Instruments for Business and Human Rights (Part I)12:42
Examine the United Nations guiding principles on business and human rights and the protect, respect, and remedy framework, outlining state duties, business responsibilities, due diligence, and remedies.
International Instruments for Business and Human Rights (Part II)13:01
Explore key international and regional instruments for business and human rights, including the OECD guidelines and ILO standards, emphasizing due diligence, risk assessment, remedy, and responsible conduct.
Regional Instruments for Business and Human Rights17:15
Explore regional instruments shaping business and human rights across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Americas, and Africa, including mandatory due diligence, national action plans, and guidelines aligned with international standards.
Module 3 - Assignment

Creating Human Rights Policies6:57
Develop a public human rights policy framework with due diligence and grievance mechanisms to embed internationally recognized rights in daily business decisions.
Respecting and Upholding Human Rights12:15
Explore how to operationalize human rights due diligence under the UN Guiding Principles, identifying and assessing risks, preventing and mitigating impacts, and transparently communicating actions to stakeholders.
Undertaking Remedial Measures to Address Harm13:27
Learn how to design effective remediation for business-related human rights harms by integrating due diligence with accessible grievance mechanisms, fair investigations, and remedies through judicial and non-judicial channels.
United Nations Reporting Framework9:46
Explore the United Nations guiding principles reporting framework for transparent, accountable business reporting on human rights, covering governance, salient issues, and management with assurance guidance.
Conclusion3:40
Businesses align with regional and international instruments to respect and advance human rights for all stakeholders, guided by policy frameworks, due diligence, remediation, and transparent communication.
Panel: Business and Human Rights with Pradeepan, Jhumki and Salil42:06
Explore how business and human rights intersect across India and globally, highlighting due diligence, transparency, and collective worker representation to drive accountable, rights-based corporate practice.
Business and Human Rights Case Study

Requirements

No specialised knowledge or proficiency in the subject matter is needed.

Description

Welcome to our self-paced course, Introduction to Business and Human Rights!

Businesses play a significant and far-reaching role in shaping the world we live in. They influence political decisions, drive economic systems, shape public policy, and impact our lives, both directly and indirectly, on a daily basis. For those of us committed to building a fairer and more just world, the relationship between business and human rights becomes a critical area of focus. It offers a powerful space to challenge systemic inequities, advocate for ethical governance, and push for meaningful, lasting change that prioritises the dignity, safety, and well-being of all communities.

As the influence of businesses continues to expand, so does the urgency to embed accountability, transparency, and respect for human rights into the very core of how businesses function. Human rights cannot be treated as an afterthought, and they must be integrated into every level of decision-making and practice. This course invites you to explore this intersection, critically evaluate how businesses can both harm and uphold human rights, and discover the tools, policies, and frameworks needed to create institutions that value people and the planet.

This course is brought to you by One Future Collective. One Future Collective exists to advance social justice by catalysing people-power and just institutions. We are a feminist social purpose organisation with a vision of a world built on social justice, led by communities of care.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

Understand the relationship between businesses and human rights
Recognise the importance of integrating human rights within business operations
Gain knowledge about the legal and policy instruments that govern the design and integration of human rights into businesses today
Understand how human rights commitments can be operationalised within business contexts

Are there any course requirements or prerequisites?
No prior experience or specialized knowledge are needed—just curiosity and a willingness to explore the ways in which businesses shape, influence, and are accountable for human rights outcomes in society.

Who this course is for:

This course is designed especially for individuals who are keen to understand the interrelationship between business and human rights.

Introduction to Business and Human Rights

What you'll learn

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Course content

Module 1: The Role of Human Rights in Businesses3 lectures • 31min

Module 2: Evolution of the Business and Human Rights Landscape2 lectures • 33min

Module 3: International Legal Instruments in Business and Human Rights3 lectures • 43min

Module 4: Operationalising Human Rights Within Businesses6 lectures • 1hr 28min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: