Erik Koppe, born in Leiden, the Netherlands in 1976. Ph.D. from the University of Groningen. Assistant Professor in Public International Law at Leiden University.
HUGO Fellow (1 September 2011 – 30 November 2011)
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND LABOR LAW
It is currently generally established that the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility requires business enterprises to observe the four established core labour standards: freedom of association, elimination of forced labour, elimination of child labour, elimination of discrimination. Further, it has been submitted that states, business enterprises, and stakeholders have a general responsibility to provide for access to remedies for those affected by human rights violations, including breach of the four core labour standards. I provide a non-exhaustive overview of existing non-judicial and non-governmental grievance mechanism in relation to labour standards. Access to remedies in this area is provided by NGOs to supplement their monitoring and verification capabilities with respect to particular codes of conduct (labour-only as well as labour-inclusive). Further, access to remedies is provided in this area within the framework of ad hoc agreements, such as company – community agreements and company – trade union agreements.