Accountability and Human Rights: Seminar Four: ESRC Research Seminar Series

Accountability and Human Rights:
Seminar Four: ESRC Research Seminar Series
‘When worlds collide’: Contested paradigms of CSR
One-day Symposium September 1st 2009
The Gateway, University of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland
Introduction
This symposium on Accountability and Human Rights is organised by the Centre for Social
and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR, University of St Andrews) with the
Centre for Applied Ethics and Legal Philosophy, (University of Glasgow). The intention is
to help us understand what such matters as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and
a respect for human rights means for accounting, finance and management. The focus of the
day will be on business ethics, accountability and human rights within the areas of business
corporations, shareholder investment & organisational accountability.
Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with
reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without
distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no
distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of
the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, nonself-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person .
The Universal Declaration of Human RigHts
OUTLINE PROGRAMME:
9.00 – 10.00
Coffee and Registration
Gateway Building, School of Management, University of St Andrews
10.00-10.15
Welcome and Introduction: Rob Gray, CSEAR; Ken McPhail, CAELP
10.15-11.00
Kavita Chetty, Legal Officer (Human Rights Based Approach) for the
Scottish Commission for Human Rights: “From responsibility to
accountability: Business, human rights and Scotland”
Peter Frankental, Director of the Economic Relations Programme,
Amnesty International and The CORE Coalition;
“No accounting for human rights”
11.00 – 11.30
Coffee
11.30 – 12.30
Small Group Sessions: “Developing an understanding and a research
agenda in accountability and human rights””
12.30 – 1.30
Buffet Lunch in Gateway
1.30 – 2.30
Luke Wilde, Director, TwentyFifty Limited;
“So what about human rights and the private sector in the UK?”
John Southalan, University of Dundee, Centre for Energy, Petroleum &
Mineral Law and Policy;
“Let’s hope it’s a small elephant in the bedroom: Sustainable
development and human rights”
2.30 – 3.30
Small Group Sessions: “Developing an understanding and a research
agenda in accountability and human rights””
3.30 – 4.00
Coffee
4.00 – 5.00
Report back from Session Chairs
Comments and Summarising outcomes:
Ken McPhail and John McKernan
ESRC + next steps: Alan Murray
5.00
Conference Close
Drinks and Nibbles in Gateway Social Area
7.00
Informal Meal at local St Andrews restaurant (with CSEAR
delegates as part of start of CSEAR Annual Congress)
small group sessions:
“Developing an understanding and a research agenda in accountability and human rights”
Session Topics +
Chairs
Accounting and
Reporting:
Tricia Feeney and
Rob Gray
(Room LR3)
Critical Theory and
Praxis:
John McKernan
and Ken McPhail
(Room LR4)
Money, Finance
and SRI:
Andreas Hoepner
and Alan Murray
(Room S4/5)
Responding to
Oppression:
Anne Fearfull and
Ali Watson
(Room S6)
11.30 – 12.30
2.30 – 3.30
Tricia Feeney
“The RAID Report: Fit for
Purpose? A review of the UK
National Contact Point (NCP)
for the OECD Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises 2008”
Susan Wild
“Accounting for Human Rights: The
Ruggie Report, the Global Compact,
and Post-Coloniality”
Stacey McPhail
“HR attitude and value theories
in a commercial context”
Q&A Session:
“Exploring HR in corporate reporting”
Sonja Gallhofer, Jim Haslam
and Sibylle Van der Walt
“Accountability and
transparency in relation to
human rights: a critical
perspective reflecting upon
accounting, corporate
responsibility and ways forward
in the context of globalisation”
John Ferguson
“Disability and the Professional
Accountant: Insights from Oral
Histories” (with Angus Duff)
Jesse Dillard
“Human rights within an ethic of
accountability”
Q&A Session
“Exploring HR and critical theory”
Marco Guidi
“Protecting the human rights of
future generations by cultivating
organisational prudence”
Paul Palmer
“Money as a means to an end: What
can capitalism learn from the
voluntary sector”
Andreas Hoepner
“Do investors have to pay for
opposing the genocide in
Sudan‘s Darfur region?"
Q&A Session
“SRI and HR”
Nola Buhr
“Accounting for/by the First
Nations in Canada”
Robin Waterston
“The historical role of Quakers HR”
Ali Watson
“Discussion of research work
and literature in the field of child
soldiers and HR”
Andree Ryan
“Report of Work as an Ecumenical
Accompanier in Palestine for the
EAPPI programme run by Friends
House London”
Q&A session:
“The Quaker role within the context of
Human Rights”