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Reframing Human Rights Due Diligence Through the Capability Approach

GSEM Ph.D. student Rim Bitar and Professor Judith Schrempf-Stirling co-authored an article published in the top-tier Journal of Business Ethics. It examines the normative foundations of Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) and its alignment with the principles of Business and Human Rights (BHR). The authors argue that current HRDD practices remain largely procedural and risk-oriented, limiting the effective participation and empowerment of rightsholders.

They propose integrating the capability approach developed by economist and philosopher Amartya Sen to strengthen HRDD frameworks by focusing on the expansion of rightsholders’ substantive freedoms and agency. This perspective positions HRDD as a process that goes beyond compliance, aiming to promote human dignity, inclusion, and accountability within corporate human rights practices.

ABSTRACT

Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD), as outlined by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), is constrained by normative foundations that prioritize corporate risk management over meaningful engagement with rightsholders. This paper critiques these foundations, which limit HRDD’s capacity to foster substantive human rights respect and protection. We argue that HRDD, in its current form, fails to sufficiently empower rightsholders. To address these limitations, we propose integrating Sen’s capability approach into HRDD frameworks. This approach focuses on enhancing rightsholders’ freedoms and agency, allowing them to actively shape the processes that affect them. The capability approach presents a more inclusive, ethically robust model for HRDD, transforming it from a compliance-driven mechanism into a genuinely rights-respecting process. By realigning HRDD with the broader principles of Business and Human Rights (BHR), we emphasize the importance of prioritizing rightsholders’ voices, ensuring institutional support, legal mandates, and corporate accountability.

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