Technology Companies’ Due Diligence and the Responsibility to Respect Amid COVID-19: What are Proportionate Means where there is Power and Reliance?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 February 2022
Summary
ABSTRACT
Technology companies have played a central role worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic by assisting states, individuals, businesses and other entities to get through not only a public health crisis but also a socio-economic one. Through an investigation of reliance and corporate power over human rights in the context of COVID-19, this contribution investigates whether current understandings of ‘proportionate means’ of meeting the responsibility to respect are sufficient and whether considerations of ‘enhanced due diligence’ are appropriate in this context. Following an exploration of the reliance on, and power of, tech companies during the pandemic, this contribution investigates changes in the factors that determine what proportionate means of meeting the responsibility to respect under Principles 14 and 15 of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) look like, including through a power lens. Finally, based on the concept of ‘enhanced due diligence’ for businesses operating in conflict affected regions, this contribution scopes out similarities to the COVID-19 context and explores the opportunity of employing heightened human rights due diligence in contexts such as COVID-19. Ultimately, this contribution tackles the understudied notion of ‘proportionate means’, probes the influence that power has on the corporate responsibility to respect, and suggests the need for enhanced due diligence where there is significant change, power and reliance. This does not only bear significance during the pandemic, but can also help develop an enhanced understanding of corporate responsibility and due diligence requirements post-pandemic.
INTRODUCTION
COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020. While primarily threatening the right to life and health, the pandemic, and responses to it, have brought about a wide range of effects that negatively impact people's lives and livelihoods. Due to restrictions of the freedom of movement and association in the form of lock downs and quarantine measures, individuals and communities around the world have depended on digital technologies to stay in touch, work and have access to education, information and even health services. Using digital technologies in diverse areas of everyday life is not completely new. The Internet, search engines, social media, video conferencing and cloud computing platforms existed before the pandemic and will continue to play a major role in society after the crisis.
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- Information
- European Yearbook on Human Rights 2021 , pp. 349 - 380Publisher: IntersentiaPrint publication year: 2021