Calls for change are ubiquitous in the field of Business and Human Rights: increased accountability of corporations or more consequential enforcement or clearer regulations of human rights with respect to corporations have been on the agenda of human rights scholars and activists for decades.

In contrast, very little attention is paid to the way in which law regulating corporate behaviour internationally has actually been changing. International human rights law narratives highlight the increasing density of regulation, and portray hope for a potential accumulation of this regulation in a treaty on Business and Human Rights. Is this story of progress an accurate one? Who are the crucial actors pushing or blocking the legal change? How have the sites of or fora for legal change shifted over time?

This panel will put perspectives from theory and practice, from different continents, and from old and new technologies into conversation. In this way, the speakers will explore the avenues on which legal change in the field of Business and Human Rights has actually travelled in the last few decades.

Speakers:

• Lara Jesani, Human Rights Activist and Advocate at Bombay High Court, India
• Robert McCorquodale, Prof. of International Law and Human Rights, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
• Kebene Wodajo, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for Business Ethics, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

Moderator:

• Dorothea Endres, PhD Candidate in International Law and Researcher at the Global Governance Centre, The Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland

This event is organised by the Global Governance Centre and is part of the ERC funded research project "The Paths of International Law" led by Nico Krisch, Professor of International Law, The Graduate Institute, Geneva.