Business and Human Rights

Description

This course provides a better appreciation of the way business impacts human rights and the steps that are necessary to ensure that corporate conduct does not harm human rights but contributes towards the realisation of rights. The course does this by examining the ethical and legal standards, duties and expectations of companies and demonstrates the need for corporate due diligence in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP). Faculty includes experts from key international organizations, internationally acknowledged academics and major corporations, and offers interactions with practitioners regarding how this is done.

Students will learn the role of business in society and its human rights impacts. They will hear from practitioners who will outline select instances of human rights due diligence: identifying and assessing risks, and the need to act on findings through prevention, mitigation, remediation and communication. The dilemmas of operating in a space where local standards and rules may vary from and sometimes contradict global standards or policies wil be raised. Furthermore, the course will explore merging initiatives in order to deal with human rights and business, including development of legislation in some countries and the role of voluntary corporate codes of conduct. Issues of contemporary relevane, such as operating during pandemic, promoting gender equality, combating forced labour and dealing with challenges of technology, will be part of the curriculum.

This course is organized by the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) and the Rafto Foundation, in co-operation with the Department of Comparative Politics.

https://www.ihrb.org/
www.rafto.no

Instruction

Part-time course with three online sessions during the autumn semester.

If the Covid-19 situation improves, we might be able to offer the last session in November both physically in Bergen and online, simultanously.

The sessions will be a mixture of lectures, seminars, and discussions.

Due to Covid-19, the mandatory oral presentation is replaced with an individual mandatory written presentation on one of the topics covered by this course.

Session dates Fall 2020:

Week 39: September 25-27 (online)
Week 43: October 23 - 25 (online)
Week 47: November 20 - 22 (in Bergen or online, by choice)

Assessment

Take-home exam of not more than 4500 words, to be submitted within a month after it has been handed out.
Grading scale A-F.

Admission requirements

Bachelor degree or the equivalent. In addition, you must have a minimum of 2 years relevant work experience. Each application will be considered individually.

Visa requirements
If you are a foreign citizen, please be aware of Norwegian visa requirements. Some people can visit Norway without a visa, but most people from countries outside the EU/EEA must apply for a visitor's visa. www.udi.no/en/want-to-apply/visit-and-holiday/www.udi.no/en/want-to-apply/visit-and-holiday/

https://www.udi.no/en/want-to-apply/visit-and-holiday/