Business and Human Rights: a Tense, Mined and Contested Field

Abstract

Abstract This essay aims to critically analyze the recent field of studies known as Business and Human Rights, which addresses the negative impacts of human rights violations at the corporate level, covering theoretical discussions, principles, guidelines, standards, and regulations. We developed the essay focusing on three key topics: the business activities of transnational corporations negatively impact human rights all around the world; the initiatives created in order to address the impacts of business over human rights are discursive and, therefore, distant from the practices; companies and corporations make various attempts to abstain from their responsibility, even if they make symbolic and material reparations. For this, we illustrate the abstention from corporate responsibility through the human rights violations in the case of João Alberto de Freitas’ murder committed by Carrefour security guards in the parking lot of one of its stores in Porto Alegre, in 2020. Throughout the text, we argue that this field reveals the tensions between business and respect for human rights, understanding that this involves a minefield susceptible to being contested. Our contribution lies in indicating paths for the heavier involvement of researchers from the field of management with the real problems that challenge societies, such as human rights violations at the organizational level.