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Perceptions of Justice and the Human Rights Protect, Respect, and Remedy Framework

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Abstract

Human rights declarations are instruments used to introduce universal standards of ethics. The UN’s Protect, Respect, and Remedy Framework (Ruggie, Protect, respect, and remedy: A Framework for business and human rights. UN Doc A/HRC/8/5, 2008; Guiding principles on business and human rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect, and Remedy” framework. UN Doc A/HRC/17/31, 2011) intends to provide guidance for corporate behavior in regard to human rights. This article applies concepts from the field of organizational justice to the arena of business and human rights for the purpose of operationalizing the UN Framework. This approach facilitates the recognition of gaps between perceptions of justice held by stakeholders versus businesses and/or the State. Such recognition raises the potential for addressing issues that lead to divergent perceptions of justice, thus potentially improving the human rights performance of businesses. The research also shows the potential for complicity of businesses in human rights abuses and exposes a fundamental weakness in the UN Framework, which attempts to draw a sharp distinction between duties of States versus responsibilities of business. We illustrate this approach through analysis of the case of Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine in Guatemala; an extractive industry project that affects indigenous communities.

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Notes

  1. We use the term “indigenous” following the meaning proscribed by the UN System. Considering the diversity of their cultures, the UN System has not adopted an official definition of “indigenous” but instead developed an understanding of the term based on inclusion of the following seven elements (UNPFII 2006): (i) self-identification as indigenous people at the individual level and accepted by the community as their member; (ii) historical continuity with that of pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies; (iii) strong links to territories and surrounding natural resources; (iv) distinct social, economic, or political systems; (v) distinct language, culture, and beliefs; (vi) form non-dominant groups of society; (vii) resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as distinctive peoples and communities.

  2. For a rare exception see Mena et al. (2010).

  3. In 2002, Francisco Gold Corporation merged into Glamis and transferred control of the Marlin mine to Glamis Gold Ltd. Construction of the Marlin Mining Project commenced in early 2004.  Goldcorp Inc. acquired Glamis Gold Ltd. in August 2006. To avoid confusion, we refer to the company as Goldcorp throughout the paper, including in citations and references.

  4. For an extensive overview on the Marlin Mine’s issues, visit the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre and search on “Marlin Mine” http://www.business-humanrights.org/Search/SearchResults?SearchableText=marlin+mine. Also see the documents found via the following references (IACHR, 2010; IFC 2005a, b, 2006; ILO, 2009; UNHRC 2010).

  5. The Convention is only binding on States that become signatories. For a list of these, see http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/ratifce.pl?C169 Accessed 10 Feb., 2011.

  6. U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, supra note 12, Art. 32.2.

  7. Glamis Gold (Now Goldcorp), Press Release, “Glamis Gold Comments on Proposed Referendum in Guatemala” (8 June, 2005), online: Marketwire http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Glamis-Gold-Comments-on-Proposed-Referendum-in-Guatemala-544777.htm Accessed 22 Feb., 2011.

  8. Interview conducted by one of the authors with manager of COPAE, August 22, 2010, San Marcos, Guatemala. The name of the interviewee is not disclosed in order to protect his/her safety. “Ignoring the sentence from the Interamerican Comission for Human Rights is simply a demonstration of the racism we live in this country.” And see http://www.resistencia-mineria.org/espanol/?q=node/45. Accessed 10 Apr., 2011.

  9. Interviews conducted by one of the authors with three Mam Indigenous women living adjacent to the Marlin Mine. August 23, 2010—San Miguel Ixtahuacan, Guatemala. The names of the interviewees are not disclosed in order to protect their safety.

  10. The World Bank signaled its own support of Goldcorp’s consultation process by stating: “The affected local communities have been appropriately and extensively consulted as detailed in the Marlin project documents: “Land Acquisition Procedures,” “Public Consultation and Disclosure Plan,” “Executive Summary of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA),” Section 3–7, and “Programa de Información y Participación Pública” of the ESIA.” Accessed at: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTOGMC/0,,contentMDK:20421886~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:336930,00.html. Accessed 21 Oct., 2010.

Abbreviations

AIES:

Asociación de Investigación y Estudios Sociales

CAO:

IFC’s Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman

COPAE:

Comisión Paz y Ecología (Commission of Peace and Ecology)

ESIA:

Environmental and Social Impact Assessment

FPIC:

Free, Prior and Informed Consent

FSM:

Fundación Sierra Madre

IACHR:

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

IFC:

International Finance Corporation

UN:

United Nations

ILO 169:

International Labor Organization Convention 169

MNCs:

Multinational Corporations

NGO:

Non-Governmental Organization

OJ:

Organizational Justice

OJ-BHR:

Organizational Justice—Business and Human Rights Framework

SRSG:

Special Representative to the Secretary-General

UNDRIP:

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

UNHRC:

UN Human Rights Council

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Acknowledgments

This research was generously funded by Fundación ESADE, the Catalan Agency for Administration of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) and the CSR of Extractive Industries in Developing Areas (CEIDA) research group at ESADE Business School. The authors thank Florian Wettstein and two anonymous reviewers for very helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.

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  1. Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada

    Matthew Murphy

  2. Institute for Business Ethics, University of St. Gallen, Tannenstrasse 19, 9000, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Jordi Vives

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Murphy, M., Vives, J. Perceptions of Justice and the Human Rights Protect, Respect, and Remedy Framework. J Bus Ethics 116, 781–797 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1821-0

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