FAU CHREN Human Rights Colloquium on ‘Developing a legally binding instrument on business and human rights’ with Professor Markus Krajewski
On 9 October 2025, FAU CHREN hosted its very own Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski, of FAU Law School, at a particularly well-attended and lively Human Rights Colloquium. An internationally renowned scholar on business and human rights, Professor Krajewski has also been at the heart of many of FAU CHREN’s human rights research activities, including our major excellence initiative project ‘Transforming Human Rights.’ His work as a scholar and teacher has shaped generations of up-and-coming global researchers in his field, supported since 2022 by a vibrant international doctoral programme, some of whose participants joined our event.
Event recap
Professor Krajewski spoke to us about his current research on developing a legally binding instrument on business and human rights. These ongoing efforts address one of the great challenges of our time: the need to deal with ever-more powerful global corporate actors directly responsible for or complicit in human rights violations. They draw on, but potentially also herald departures from, the non-binding 2011 United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP). Professor Krajewski’s current project investigates how we can learn from other experiences of global human rights treaty-making, such as for example the creation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRPD).
In his presentation, he argued that the path to success for the LBI required a ‘hardening’ of consensus amongst states, and that the instrument being drafted must therefoe effectively complement the UNGP, rather than oppose them. Precisely because achieving international consensus on the LBI could drive much-needed domestic legal changes, it must not become ‘overly prescriptive’ in requiring substantial deviations from established member states practices, for example when it came to forum non conveniens rules. However, it could and should contribute to the further evolution of extant legal rules and principles, e.g., by establishing a clearer legal basis for extraterritorial human rights obligations and by integrating elements of mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD), given that this practice has already been adopted by a growing number of states.
Concurrently, and again drawing on wider treaty-making experience, the drafting process must also respect rightsholder agency. This meant, according to Krajewski, that the active inclusion of affected rightsholders (e.g., victims and community leaders) in negotiations – as exemplified by the CRPD-drafting motto ‘nothing about us without us’ – was a principle vital to ensuring the instrument’s ‘ethical legitimacy and practical effectiveness.’
Our discussion engaged with the central claims of the paper, as well as its wider implications. Topics addressed ranged from who promotes (or fails to promote) the LBI and why (not), the role of the European Union in the negotiation process, and the life of the LBI once adopted, to the theoretical basis for attributing human rights responsibilities to companies and the reasons for holding on to a public-private divide in legal ordering.
Speaker bio
Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski (Image: FAU/Nathalie Schneider).
Professor Markus Krajewski is a professor at the Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), holding the Chair in Public Law and Public International Law since 2010. He is a programme director of the MA in Human Rights and serves as the chairperson of the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU CHREN). Additionally, Professor Krajewski is Secretary-General of the German Branch of the International Law Association. His research interests encompass international economic law, human rights, European external relations, and the law of public services. The project he presented at our Colloquium draws upon work undertaken during a recent research stay as Visiting Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence.
About the FAU CHREN Human Rights Colloquium
Organized by the FAU Research Center for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU CHREN), our inter- and transdisciplinary brings together scholars and practitioners to discuss current issues in human rights research and practice.
Colloquia are organised on a rolling basis and are co-convened by Dr. Janina Heaphy and Prof. Dr. Eva Pils. Events are invitation-only. Enquiries should be directed to the co-conveners and/or to humanrights@fau.de.
FAU CHREN Human Rights Colloquium with Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski as speaker (Image: FAU/Nathalie Schneider).
FAU CHREN Human Rights Colloquium on ‘Developing a legally binding instrument on business and human rights’ with Professor Markus Krajewski
On 9 October 2025, FAU CHREN hosted its very own Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski, of FAU Law School, at a particularly well-attended and lively Human Rights Colloquium. An internationally renowned scholar on business and human rights, Professor Krajewski has also been at the heart of many of FAU CHREN’s human rights research activities, including our major excellence initiative project ‘Transforming Human Rights.’ His work as a scholar and teacher has shaped generations of up-and-coming global researchers in his field, supported since 2022 by a vibrant international doctoral programme, some of whose participants joined our event.
Event recap
Professor Krajewski spoke to us about his current research on developing a legally binding instrument on business and human rights. These ongoing efforts address one of the great challenges of our time: the need to deal with ever-more powerful global corporate actors directly responsible for or complicit in human rights violations. They draw on, but potentially also herald departures from, the non-binding 2011 United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP). Professor Krajewski’s current project investigates how we can learn from other experiences of global human rights treaty-making, such as for example the creation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRPD).
In his presentation, he argued that the path to success for the LBI required a ‘hardening’ of consensus amongst states, and that the instrument being drafted must therefoe effectively complement the UNGP, rather than oppose them. Precisely because achieving international consensus on the LBI could drive much-needed domestic legal changes, it must not become ‘overly prescriptive’ in requiring substantial deviations from established member states practices, for example when it came to forum non conveniens rules. However, it could and should contribute to the further evolution of extant legal rules and principles, e.g., by establishing a clearer legal basis for extraterritorial human rights obligations and by integrating elements of mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD), given that this practice has already been adopted by a growing number of states.
Concurrently, and again drawing on wider treaty-making experience, the drafting process must also respect rightsholder agency. This meant, according to Krajewski, that the active inclusion of affected rightsholders (e.g., victims and community leaders) in negotiations – as exemplified by the CRPD-drafting motto ‘nothing about us without us’ – was a principle vital to ensuring the instrument’s ‘ethical legitimacy and practical effectiveness.’
Our discussion engaged with the central claims of the paper, as well as its wider implications. Topics addressed ranged from who promotes (or fails to promote) the LBI and why (not), the role of the European Union in the negotiation process, and the life of the LBI once adopted, to the theoretical basis for attributing human rights responsibilities to companies and the reasons for holding on to a public-private divide in legal ordering.
Speaker bio
Professor Markus Krajewski is a professor at the Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), holding the Chair in Public Law and Public International Law since 2010. He is a programme director of the MA in Human Rights and serves as the chairperson of the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU CHREN). Additionally, Professor Krajewski is Secretary-General of the German Branch of the International Law Association. His research interests encompass international economic law, human rights, European external relations, and the law of public services. The project he presented at our Colloquium draws upon work undertaken during a recent research stay as Visiting Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence.
About the FAU CHREN Human Rights Colloquium
Organized by the FAU Research Center for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU CHREN), our inter- and transdisciplinary brings together scholars and practitioners to discuss current issues in human rights research and practice.
Colloquia are organised on a rolling basis and are co-convened by Dr. Janina Heaphy and Prof. Dr. Eva Pils. Events are invitation-only. Enquiries should be directed to the co-conveners and/or to humanrights@fau.de.