Sustainable supply chain management: Linking international law to national through human rights due diligence

Human rights violations in global supply chains have been a focus of public discussions for nearly three decades. To address such violations in global supply chains, pressure was put on transnational corporations (TNCs) to use their economic power to prevent such harms from occurring at supplier factories, often located in the Global South. TNCs with well-known brands started to introduce codes of conduct for their suppliers as early as the 1990s. However, this approach was rarely, if ever, addressed or monitored through international or national law. Ensuring socially responsible supply chains was anchored in the voluntary assumption of responsibilities by private corporate actors. The inadequacies of the business-driven soft law approach to improve working conditions at supplier factories and natural resource collection sites drove a shift toward legal regulation. The shift toward national legal regulation consequently established a definitive link between soft and hard international human rights law and national law. The linking of international law to national through human rights due diligence is the focus of this chapter.