ESCP Business School Launches New Online Courses on Sustainability & Human Rights

ESCP Business School, FT-ranked 1st globally for its Masters in Finance, is proud to launch four new online courses on Sustainable Leadership and Human Rights. Developed with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), a world-leading institute for the study of international law, these learning modules are now available to all business professionals.

The concept of Human Rights Due Diligence has become better known since the United Nations (UN) issued its Guiding Principles (UNGP) on Business and Human Rights in 2011. It’s based on three pillars, one of which is Corporate responsibility to protect human rights.

What is Human Rights Due Diligence?

Human rights due diligence is a way for companies to proactively manage potential and actual adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved.

The operations of a business can impact human rights in areas including forced and child labour, privacy, freedom of speech, equality, discrimination, and occupational safety.

Risks vary depending on a company’s sector or business model. The textile industry has been linked to poor working conditions, while telecoms’ highest concerns are freedom of speech and privacy. And a business can impact human rights beyond the borders of the country it operates in.

To ensure that it does not damage human rights, a company needs to look inwards. It needs to examine what it is doing and how that can affect others. This is called due diligence.

Why is it important?

Given EU plans to legislate on human rights, sustainability and social development are now key to ensuring economic progress. It’s now clear that businesses need to stay ahead of rules and regulations to survive and thrive.

ESCP Course on Sustainability & Human Rights

ESCP Business School, which offers a range of courses to 5,000+ executives, has joined forces with long-time partner BIICL to offer a top-tier programme. The aim is to help professionals to understand new due diligence, how they can implement it, and how it will impact their businesses. This new partnership is in line with the school’s goal of sustainable leadership and social aspects of ESG in their Executive Education courses.

Expert lecturers, consultants, legal practitioners and human rights activists will take part in the four online courses provided by ESCP and BICCL:

• Integrating Human Rights into Business Operations
• Integrating Human Rights into the Global Value Chain
• Transparency, Stakeholder Engagement and Remediation
• Integration of Multiple Legal, Industry and International Standards

“It has become increasingly important to integrate human rights in discussions related to sustainability, environmental impacts, and businesses. As such, it was clear that we needed to put in place these online courses and help executives understand how sustainability can improve the corporate ecosystem,” says Crochenka McCarthy, Associate Head of Executive Education.