Michael Posner Keynote on Business and Human Rights

Date: April 16, 2014 12:10pm – 1:00pm
Location: Columbia Law School, Jerome Greene Hall, Room 102B

A keynote speech by Michael Posner, Professor of Business and Society at NYU’s Stern School of Business and former Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. State Department. An expert on business and human rights, Professor Posner discussed why human rights are important for business, and the potential human rights impacts of large-scale investment projects, including investments in extractives and in agricultural commodities. The discussion also included the opportunity to dialogue around these issues through an extensive question-and-answer session.

Posner has been a key leader and prominent voice on business and human rights. Among other things, Posner helped found the Fair Labor Association, and spearheaded the U.S. Government’s efforts to enhance the effectiveness of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, which works to improve human rights around oil, gas and mining operations.

The talk was jointly organized by CCSI, the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School, the Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic, and the Sciences Po Law School Clinic. The talk kicked off a closed roundtable on human rights impact assessments of large-scale foreign investments. For more information, please contact kaitlin.cordes@law.columbia.edu.