29 July 2020

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Despite such efforts to promote the UNGPs through collaborative learning networks at multiple scales, the extent to which the UNGPs have achieved recognition and impact has varied widely across countries, sectors and individual companies within Southeast Asia. While the channels of UNGP dissemination identified above provide localised opportunities for information-sharing and learning, wider patterns of implementation in the region have remained limited and uneven. […]

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[…] Yet while the promise of cumulative change achieved through cascading processes of norm diffusion and learning suggests a trajectory of rising recognition and penetration of global human rights norms, in many countries in Southeast Asia it is also possible to observe counter-movements towards shrinking political space for liberal international norms, intensifying threats to civil society freedoms and security, and the declining leverage of western markets and governments. In this challenging environment, continued progress towards implementation of the business and human rights agenda demands a sustained focus on creating and defending political and civic spaces through which pro-rights actors inside and outside of the state can generate substantive pressure for change.

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[…] While much emphasis has been placed on promotion of socialisation and learning within collaborative governance networks, this article’s analysis has highlighted the importance of multiple sources of social and economic pressure for change. Such pressure can come not only from invigorated regulatory interventions by governments, but also from consumers, banks, international financial institutions, and civil society organisations, all of which play a potentially important role in mobilising pressure for meaningful UNGP implementation. […]