BHR and arbitration

Table of contents 

The Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration (Hague Rules) were launched in December 2019 after a series of consultations and drafts to facilitate settlement of BHR disputes through arbitration.

The Hague Rules propose a procedural framework for victims of human rights abuses to commence claims in arbitral proceedings

This framework addresses the issues of witness protection and transparency, thereby increasing the accessibility of these proceedings to Pillar III of the UNGPs, non-judicial remedies.

The Hague Rules further envision that the scope of arbitration will expand beyond the investor-state nexus to include multiple types of stakeholders (business to business, victim-to-business, third party beneficiaries, etc.).

The Hague Rules represent an attempt to align UNCITRAL Arbitration rules, used in the investor-state dispute settlement context, with the UNGPs as well as the ILO Tripartite Declaration and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprise (OECD Guidelines).