Research Area II: Human Rights and Regulation in the Global Economy
Research Focus
► Human rights as a benchmark for the political regulation of economic processes
► Due diligence laws for transnational companies
► Digital tools for the enforcement of labour standards
► Changing foundations of private actor accountability and compliance
International human rights are increasingly becoming a normative benchmark for shaping transnational economic processes politically. This is reflected in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2011. In Germany, the EU and many countries around the world, actors have since been struggling to find political approaches to human rights-informed regulation, for example through so-called due diligence laws for transnational corporations.
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Research Projects
► Legal Struggles in Transnational Supply Chains
Recent Publications
► Scheper, Christian / Engelhardt, Anne 2024: New Due Diligence Laws in Europe. Effective regulation of sustainability and human rights in global supply chains? (Global Governance Spotlight 1/2024). Bonn: Development and Peace Foundation.
► Sorg, C; Vestena, C A; Scheper, C; Zajak, S (2023): Digital worker feedback infrastructures: The digitalisation of worker rights monitoring in global value chains. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, pp. 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1017/elr.2023.36 (online first).
► Buckel, S; Engelhardt, A; Kopp, J; Pichl, M; Scheper, C; Vestena, C A (2023): "Powered by the Supply Chain": Der Streik in Gräfenhausen und die Rechtskämpfe um das neue Lieferkettengesetz. Verfassungsblog. https://verfassungsblog.de/powered-by-the-supply-chain/
► Scheper, C.; Vestena, C. A.; Sorg, C.; Zajak, S. (2023): Menschenrechtliche Sorgfaltspflicht und der Einsatz von Worker Voice Tools. Partizipation als Risikomanagement? In T. Haipeter et al. (Eds.): Soziale Standards in globalen Lieferketten. Bielefeld: Transcript, pp. 75–95.
► Scheper, C. (2023) The Dark Side of Global Supply Chain Cooperation. Global Cooperation Research - A Quarterly Magazine 1/2023. https://bit.ly/3Hh76f4
► Sorg, C.; Vestena, C.; Scheper, C.; Zajak, S. (2022) Worker Voice Tools ohne Worker Voice? Zur digitalen Governance von Arbeitsrechten in globalen Wertschöpfungsketten. WSI-Mitteilungen 75(6): 448-456.
► Scheper, Christian 2022: Multiplicity, the Corporation and Human Rights in Global Value Chains, in: Cooperation and Conflict. DOI: 10.1177/00108367221098495
Head of Research Area
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Dr. Christian Scheper
Room: LS 032
Phone: +49 (0)203-379-4424
E-Mail: christian.scheper[at]uni-due.de
Staff Portfolio
Participating Members
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Dr. Markus Ciesielski
Room: LS 032
Phone: +49 (0)203-379-3675
E-Mail: markus.ciesielski[at]uni-due.de
Staff Portfolio