Human rights due diligence: participation and innovation in multi-national business in Thailand

Abstract

The United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGPs) for Business and Human Rights has contributed to the way in which businesses engage with, and understand human rights, and has been most notable at the Multinational Corporations (MNC) level. A key duty placed on businesses is the expectation that they will conduct human rights due diligence (HRDD) across their supply chains. This multifaceted process involves the identification of actual or potential human rights impacts that the business may have in their supply chains, drawing heavily on notions of transparency, traceability and stakeholder engagement, and is the focus of this thesis. Concentrating specifically on Thailand and labor rights, this thesis explores the challenges faced by businesses when conducting HRDD, and assesses the role of innovation in the identification of labor rights. Therefore HRDD and managing innovation are conceptualized to form the framework of this study, thus assessing how the two interrelate. The thesis does this through nine in-depth interviews with Business and Human Rights experts and five with the staff of MNCs, amongst multiple secondary sources. The thesis aims to be an acknowledgement of current challenges and good practice, in the hope that it can motivate other businesses to innovate in their HRDD process. Innovation is proved to be necessary in the course of this thesis by acknowledging the challenges that exist(ed) with HRDD from a corporate perspective, while also identifying examples of good practice on a Thai and global scale. Furthermore, the thesis formulates the importance of stakeholder engagement in HRDD and explores the limits as to who can qualify as a stakeholder. Following this, the challenges and advantages of three BHR tools are put forth. These are; the established auditing process, human rights impact assessments, and workers voice programs. It is argued that all of these tools are necessary when identifying labor rights abuses and should be encouraged throughout the supply chain, however alone they do not offer a comprehensive identification process as they each have shortfalls. The thesis argues that although some challenges remain, MNCs should consider and be inspired by Tushman and Nadler’s (1986) critical factors for organizational innovation to an extent, and apply them in a labor rights context so to innovate ways of identifying potential areas of risk. These critical factors often don’t transfer directly from an organizational context to a labor rights one, however there is value in acknowledging and adapting them. These include, but are not limited to; having a multiskilled individual overseeing the HRDD process, formal linking mechanisms between BHR stakeholders, venturing for innovations beyond the corporation, exploring and developing norms, building diverse communication networks, and considering critical roles. By continually innovating, MNCs can strengthen and deepen their stakeholder engagement which can perhaps take their HRDD process beyond standard compliance and domestic laws, to respecting human rights on an international level.