Nicolas Bueno

• PhD
• Professor at UniDistance Suisse

It may appear to be paradoxical to celebrate work as a human right in an economic system in which for many work is associated with activities that are rather repetitive or stressful, sometimes meaningless, and seldom freely chosen. After presenting the content and historical origins of the human right to work, as defined in Article 6 of the Interna...

Since the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the relationship between human rights due diligence (HRDD) and corporate liability has been a source of legal uncertainty. In order to clarify this relationship, this article compares and contrasts civil liability provisions aiming at implementing HRDD. It explains the le...

After the endorsement of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) by the Human Rights Council on 16 June 2011, 15 March 2024 marked another milestone for transnational corporate governance. That day, a qualified majority of the member states of the European Union (EU) voted in favour of the Directive on Corporate S...

Labour Law Utopias: Post-Growth and Post-Productive Work Approaches engages with new socioeconomic ideas, or utopias, that look beyond the current growth-driven competitive market economy. Building on critiques of economic growth and the limits of the logic of human productivity and competitivity for workers and the planet, it explores alternative...

How will international investment agreements look like now that the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (csddd) has entered into force? The CSDDD requires companies to respect human rights and the environment in their global value chains. Besides its public enforcement mechanism, a central element of the csddd is its civil liability...

Este capítulo explica como el derecho laboral podría ir más allá de su función histórica de proteger a los trabajadores en un sistema de mercado, con sus herramientas tradicionales del derecho colectivo a la huelga o la regulación de condiciones minimales de trabajo. Más allá de estas herramientas tradicionales, el capítulo muestra como la teoría r...

This introductory chapter to the edited volume Labour Law Utopias: Post-Growth and Post-Productive Work Approaches explains how the authors in the book use the idea of utopia as a method to design a more human-centred and green labour law. This chapter explains the concept of post-growth and post-productive work and their meaning for labour law. It...

Since the establishment of labour markets, work has been mainly valued and therefore paid according to its market value. Activities, such as cleaning, taking care of others, or restoring the environment have usually a lower market value than activities serving economic interests of people or firms, such as financial or legal services. This chapter...

This legal report identifies obstacles to access legal remedies in case of environmental damage or human rights violations due to the costs of legal proceedings, the burden of proof, and in particular the lack of collective mechanisms for accessing judicial remedies in Switzerland. It makes proposals for Swiss law based on the experience of other E...

The report identifies obstacles to access legal remedies in case of environmental damage or human rights violations due to the costs of legal proceedings, the burden of proof, and in particular the lack of collective mechanisms for accessing judicial remedies in Switzerland. It makes proposals for Swiss law based on the experience of other European...

The civil liability provision of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in Article 29 has been highly debated during the entire drafting and negotiation process of the Directive, but it held on. Where harm occurs, will Article 29 CSDDD fulfill its function to provide a right to remedy for the affected individuals and legal cla...

After the endorsement of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)by the Human Rights Council on 16 June 2011, 15 March 2024 marked another milestone for transnationalcorporate governance. That day, a qualified majority of the member states of the European Union(EU) voted in favour of the Directive on Corporate Sust...

This contribution outlines the current content of the right to rest and to the limitation of working time in Article 24 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Although the wording of the right to rest and leisur is greatly influenced by the Soviet Constitution of 1936, there was no significant opposition against its inclusion in the UDHR. Se...

The article explores the utility of corporate social responsibility (CSR) clauses in international investment agreements to achieve responsible investor conduct on human rights and environmental protection. It provides an empirical overview of the content of such CSR clauses and offers a critical analysis on how and why these clauses, regardless of...

History and content of the human right to work

History and content of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

Switzerland has a long humanitarian tradition. It has attached great importance to advancing and promoting respect for human rights, at least from a legal perspective. It has ratified eight out of the nine core international human rights instruments adopted within the United Nations framework, all eight fundamental conventions of the International...

On 29 November 2020, Swiss citizens voted on a popular constitutional initiative, known as the Swiss Responsible Business Initiative. ¹ The vote was triggered by an initiative signed by more than the required 100,000 Swiss citizens who used their constitutional right to ask for an amendment of the Swiss Constitution by introducing a new provision o...

What makes work useful, on what grounds and for whom? Classical economists distinguished between productive and unproductive labour. They focused primarily on productive labour and its ability to generate wealth for the economy as a whole, which influences why economic policies currently prioritize economically productive work over other forms of w...

Résumé Les droits relatifs au travail sont-ils un instrument promouvant la liberté? L'auteur définit trois libertés: la liberté au travail, par le travail mais aussi face au travail. Bien que certains courants du droit du travail analysent les liens entre droits relatifs au travail et liberté, ces droits se limitent traditionnellement à protéger le...

Resumen ¿En qué medida los derechos laborales promueven las libertades en relación con el trabajo? El autor define metodológicamente tres: libertad en el trabajo, a través del trabajo y frente al trabajo. No obstante enfoques de derecho laboral como el de no explotación, no dominación o de las capacidades, los derechos laborales fundamentales sigue...

Frente a la pandemia de covid-19, las respuestas de las empresas no siempre suelen ser compatibles con la protección de los derechos humanos, y en particular los derechos laborales. Algunos ejemplos de repercusiones negativas de las actividades empresariales sobre los derechos humanos se refieren a la falta de medidas para proteger la salud, la seg...

Le 29 novembre 2020, les cantons rejetaient l’initiative populaire pour des entreprises responsables, alors que le peuple l’acceptait à une courte majorité. C’est donc le contre-projet indirect du Parlement qui entrera en vigueur. Le contre-projet indirect introduit de nouvelles obligations de diligence pour les entreprises en matière de travail de...

To what extent do labour rights promote freedom in relation to work? Methodologically, the article defines three freedoms: 'freedom at work', 'freedom through work', and 'freedom from work'. It shows that fundamental labour rights have traditionally aimed at protecting workers in the labour market, not at expanding freedoms and in particular freedo...

Über die Volksinitiative ‘Für verantwortungsvolle Unternehmen – zum Schutz von Mensch und Umwelt’, den indirekten Gegenvorschlag des Nationalrats und den weiteren schwächeren Gegenvorschlag ohne Haftung des Ständerats ohne Haftungsnorm debattiert das Parlament schon über zwei Jahren. Doch am Dienstag entschied sich das Parlament für den schwachen G...

The report presents and discusses norms of Swiss law ensuring access to remedy for human rights and environmental harm that a company located in Switzerland may cause or contribute to cause through a foreign subsidiary or supplier abroad. In addition to questions of jurisdiction and applicable law in transnational matters, the report analyses curre...

Since the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the relationship between human rights due diligence (HRDD) and corporate liability has been a source of legal uncertainty. In order to clarify this relationship, this article compares and contrasts civil liability provisions aiming at implementing HRDD. It explains the le...

Unless the Swiss Parliament adopts a new law on corporate due diligence, Swiss citizens will decide in 2020 whether to adopt or reject a partial revision of the Constitution of Switzerland that aims to introduce a provision on responsible business. According to the proposal, companies that are based in Switzerland are required to carry out appropri...

Wie wird die Arbeit der Zukunft aussehen? Das ist eine essenzielle Frage. Nicht nur für Erwerbstätige und junge Menschen, die nach der Schule in den Arbeitsmarkt eintreten müssen, sondern generell für friedliche Beziehungen unter den Menschen und zwischen Ländern in einer globalisierten Welt. Das Problem mit der Arbeit ist, dass sich jeder und jede...

The responsibility of multinational enterprises to respect labour rights in global operations has been widely discussed in the corporate social responsibility and business ethics literature. Since the adoption of the United Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in 2011, legal scholars are formalising this discussion around the legal conce...

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights define the due diligence that business enterprises should conduct regarding human rights, including when they operate abroad through a subsidiary or a supplier. Since their adoption in 2011, legal scholars have been questioning the relationship between this due diligence and corpora...

Resumen ¿No resulta paradójico defender el derecho humano al trabajo en un sistema económico en el que, para muchos, el trabajo viene asociado a una actividad repetitiva, estresante o irrelevante y rara vez libremente elegida? Tras la presentación del contenido y el origen histórico del derecho humano al trabajo, este artículo sostiene que el derec...

Since the adoption of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UN Guiding Principles) in 2011, several states have adopted domestic laws aiming at implementing human rights due diligence (see Human Rights Due Diligence), at least in part. This Teaching Note surveys categories of domestic legislation that address human rig...

On 9 December 2016, the Swiss government presented the Swiss National Action Plan on the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It highlighted that corporations are expected to conduct human rights due diligence in their activities in Switzerland and abroad. Despite identified international development...

How to reduce the fear of unemployment, the risks associated with quitting an unfulfilling job or retiring earlier? Is there an economic model that could make us freer from traditional paid work and would work for all in both developing and developed countries? The discussion in this piece goes beyond the idea of a basic income. After presenting th...

At the international level, anti-corruption treaties encourage states to make corporations criminally liable for transnational corruption. The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises provide a detailed standard as to the management that corporations should adopt in order to prevent transnational corruption. This article aims to clarify the OE...

When 250 workers die in a fire at a Pakistani factory producing jeans for a German discount chain, when the work day lasts 12 hours in Cambodia’s garment industry or when workers commit suicide in Chinese factories producing electronics for international brands, should only the corporations in Pakistan, Cambodia and China be held liable? What about...

Les Principes directeurs des Nations Unies relatifs aux entreprises et aux droits de l'homme (UNGP) donnent une première indication sur les mesures qu'une entreprise devrait prendre en vue de respecter les droits de l'homme, également à l'étranger. Si pour l'heure, la doctrine internationale en la matière a porté principalement sur des affaires ang...

La démocratie est-elle une valeur universelle que le droit international peut promouvoir ? La démocratie ne peut être exportée internationalement ou imposée par la force; elle doit se consolider à l'intérieur d'un État. Les droits politiques internationaux, comme le droit à des élections libres, à la liberté d'expression et d'association politique,...