About the Course: to the Students

"Business and Human Rights" is a new course brought by the human rights master program of Peking University Law School to the curriculum of Chinese law students. It was first introduced to Chinese students in 2004 and was conducted by Professor Dennis Driscoll, former Dean of the Law Faculty National University of Ireland (Galway) and Legal Adviser to the Irish Foreign Ministry, who also first taught this subject in Europe. This semester marks the history in that it is the first time that such course is given by a Chinese lecturer at Chinese law schools.

The subject matter of this course is seemingly clear and straightforward: the operation of business and its influence on various human rights. Yet it embraces a wide range of disciplines, from legal study, economics and sociology to management, international relations, and even technologies. The specific topics will include non-discrimination in business practice, child labor, forced and compulsory work, freedom of association, environmental concerns, health and safety issues, business ethics and the influence of business to collective human rights etc. Students will also be exposed to different styles of implementation or enforcement mechanisms of corporate social responsibilities. Through all these topics, the course will explore into the comprehensive and complex social dimensions of business entities and the internal and external efforts to ensure the healthy operation of business in terms of respecting, protecting and promoting human rights.

Because it is a totally new area, there is no such thing as “textbooks” for this course. This does not follow, however, that you will have little to read. Instead, piles of essays, books and reports will come to you as we go along. Please try your best to cover them all. Plenty of internet resources will be used throughout the semester (for instance, this BLOG will be a platform for information, discussions and reflections), and ACTIVE participation of class discussions is strongly advised, as we will employ intensive case study. Heuristic questions (why is this…?) are welcome in any form, but do keep common questions (what is what…?) to yourselves, for you are supposed to be researchers in nature. In and outside the classroom, an array of practical "multi-stakeholders" experiences will be introduced to students, which may include CEO talks and interviews, CSR seminars, factory visits and internship or summer job opportunities.

Since I am not a full-time lecturer, I may not be able to show up at Room 118 of the Science Building at the preset time for this course (7:10-9:10pm, Monday) some Mondays. But first, this will not happen very often, and second, I will make sure that you are notified of any changes one week before the class. Thirdly, I will always secure patch-up arrangement if anything does happen. By the way, I am sorry for any inconvenience.

I am sure I did not get to all the questions you may raise, but please be patient enough to see that we will share four months ahead. Just one last thing for this moment: please do not ask me now about the exam, something that I have too much experience in the past but no idea for now.