Human Rights Institute | Columbia Law School

Human Rights & the Global Economy

The Human Rights Institute works on a range of issues arising out of developments in the global economy. The projects extend from the labor rights of producers in global supply chains to the impacts of large-scale land acquisitions and the development of tools in the struggle to combat the ‘resource curse.’ The underlying issues include violations of traditional civil and political rights as well as efforts to implement economic and social rights, particularly the rights to food, housing and livelihood.

Much of the specific work that HRI is involved in goes beyond traditional human rights advocacy to focus on the intersection of development, markets and human rights. In its work on natural resources, for example, the institute has focused on the contracts between private investors and developing countries, providing tools to understand both the financial aspects and social implications. In collaboration with international and domestic civil society advocates, its work seeks to influence international financial institutions, multistakeholder mechanisms, and private corporations as well as governments. In specific projects, the institute has collaborated with the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Revenue Watch Institute, the International Union of Food Workers, and The Carter Center, among others.