Business has significant impacts on human rights. 

Companies are in a unique position to create the resources and infrastructure needed for people to realise their human rights. However, corporate conduct can also adversely affect the rights of workers, consumers, and communities. 

This highly respected Masters-level course, taking place over four weekends between September and December 2024, explores the links between human rights violations and corporate activities.

The course will focus will be on the importance of international standards in strengthening respect and protection of human rights, as well as what corporate human rights due diligence means in practice for businesses.

Visit the University of Bergen website to apply.

For more details on the course, please contact Bendik E Basberg [[email protected]] at the UiB’s Department of Comparative Politics. 


Why apply?

 

 

I left with a robust armoury of tools and ideas on how to better incorporate human rights into business decisions.

- Emily, Ethical Sourcing Specialist

 

I gained an invaluable insight into the practicalities of implementing [human rights] regulations from some of the world’s leading multinationals first hand. 

- Joanne, Lawyer

 

The faculty was knowledgeable, diverse and extremely approachable.

- Magdalena, Lawyer


Course Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, you will be able to:

  • demonstrate a specialised knowledge of human rights standards expected of companies and the challenges they face meeting them;

  • understand how to identify if business practices are consistent with human rights standards and evaluate challenges in detail;

  • develop sophisticated approaches based on due diligence assessment methods and tools that companies use in order to ensure respect for human rights;

  • communicate your expertise in human rights and business to companies, governments, institutions and other actors.

 

Course Content

This course will help you understand the interplay between business and human rights, including business impacts, positive and adverse, regardless of corporate intent. 

Through expert guidance this course will help you learn about:

  • what companies can and cannot do through an introduction to international human rights standards such as the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, ethical norms and legal principles, and corporate duties;

  • the dilemmas of operating in spaces where local standards and rules may vary from and sometimes contradict global standards or policies;

  • how senior company executives address challenges and conduct due diligence; 

  • existing initiatives and corporate strategies designed to deal with human rights and business and uphold international standards;

  • contemporary challenges in business and human rights including climate, just transitions, conflict, technology, and concerns including discrimination.

 

Course Details

The first and last course weekends will take place in person in Bergen, Norway, with two intervening weekends taking place virtually. 2024 course dates are below:

Week 1: September 12th - 15th

Week 2: October 4th - 6th

Week 3: October 25th - 27th

Week 4: November 22th - 24th.

Cost for 2024 to be confirmed. Cost for the course in 2023 (not including travel etc) was NOK 25,000.

The course is hosted by the Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen (UiB), the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, and the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB).

Sessions will comprise a mixture of lectures, seminars, and group discussions. All lectures are streamed using Zoom. 

All relevant materials, including lecture recordings, will be made available through the course pages at the student portal - MittUiB. 
 

Course Faculty 

Learn from individuals at the forefront of making human rights part of everyday business. 

Maryam Al-Khawaja - Bahrainian Human Rights Defender, Rafto Laureate, Copenhagen

Bendik Basberg - University of Bergen, Norway

Vicky Bowman - Director, Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business; member of IHRB's International Advisory Committee, London

Khule Duma - Anglo American Corp, Johannesburg

Nnimmo Bassey - Mother Earth Foundation, Rafto Laureate, Nigeria

Sigrid Brynestad - Senior Executive, GIEK, Oslo

Carine Coudeville - VP Human Rights, Sustainability & Climate Division, TotalEnergies, Paris

Dominique Day - UN Working group for people of African descent, New York/San Francisco, US

Kathryn Dovey - OECD, London/Paris (via zoom)

Frode Elgesem - judge, advocate, Rafto board, Norway’s NCP chair, Oslo

Heidi Furustol - Executive Director, Ethical Trade Norway

Erika George - Faculty of Law, University of Utah, Salt Lake City

Pia Rudolfsson Goyer - Ethical investment specialist, Rafto board, IHRB IAC, Oslo

Isabel Hilton - Founder, China Dialogue, IHRB IAC, London

Payal Jain - Sustainability Team, H&M, Sweden (on ZOOM)

Therese Jebsen - Rafto Foundation, Bergen 

Scott Jerbi - Senior Adviser, IHRB

Harpreet Kaur - Business and Human Rights Adviser, UNDP Asia-Pacific Hub, Bangkok

Deanna Kemp - University of Queensland, IHRB IAC and Trustee, Australia

Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt - Rafto Foundation, Bergen

Morten Kristiansen - Corporate Attorney, Telenor 

Rachel Kyte - Dean, Tufts University, Massachusetts, US

Reidun Blehr Lankan - Senior Adviser, Norway Govt dept of Trade and Industry, Oslo

Iain Levine - Human Rights Team, Meta (Facebook), New York (on ZOOM)

Rae Lindsay - Clifford Chance, IHRB IAC, London

Bonny Ling - Research Fellow, IHRB

Anton Mifsud Bonnici - Consultant, Malta

Frank Mugisha - Rafto Laureate, Executive Director, Sexual Minorities in Uganda, Kampala

John Morrison - IHRB, UK

Sidsela Nyebak - Sustainability Director, Statkraft, Oslo

Beena Pallical - National Commission for Dalit Human Rights, India

Michael Phoenix - Office of UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders, Dublin/Paris

Ron Popper - Chief Executive, Global Business Initiative on Human Rights, IHRB IAC and Trustee, Switzerland

Anita Ramasastry - Prof of Law, University of Washington, ex-UN Working Group for Business and Human Rights, IHRB IAC

Nick Robins - Grantham Institute, London School of Economics, London

Sanchita Banerjee Saxena - IHRB research fellow, University of California at Berkeley

Nina Schefte - Sustainability team, Hyro, Oslo

Zainab Hussain Siddiqui - VP Sustainability, Telenor

Deryne Sim - Same But Different, Singapore

Marte Johnsen Stensrud - Sustainability team, Equinor, Stavenger, Norway

Mark Taylor - Clooney Foundation for Justice, IHRB IAC, Oslo

Salil Tripathi - Senior Advisor, IHRB, New York

Owen Tudor - Deputy General Secretary, ITUC, Brussels
 

Requirements and Outputs

This course is available to master's students, professionals and anyone interested in business and human rights. 

A bachelor's degree or equivalent and at least two years' work experience is required. The course is with 15 ECTS credit points. 

Students will be required to complete a semester paper, assigned at the beginning of the semester, of not more than 4,500 words, to be submitted four weeks after the last weekend gathering (grading scale A-F).

For more details on the course, please contact Bendik E Basberg [[email protected]] at the UiB’s Department of Comparative Politics.

Visit the University of Bergen website to apply.
 


Meet the faculty:

      

Meet course alumni: