Masters Course in Business and Human Rights

Companies are in a unique position to create the resources and infrastructure needed for people to realise their human rights.

However, corporate conduct can also adversely affect the rights of workers, consumers, and communities. 

This highly respected Masters-level course, taking place over four weekends between September and December 2024, explores the links between human rights violations and corporate activities.

The course focuses on the importance of international standards in strengthening respect and protection of human rights, as well as what corporate human rights due diligence means in practice for businesses.

For more details on the course, please contact Andrea Mevold Zakariassen andrea.zakariassen@uib.no at the UiB’s Department of Comparative Politics.

Please note, the 2024 course is now fully booked, but you may register on the waiting list and you will be contacted if an available place opens up.

The 2024 course has already started but you can register your interest for IHRB's 2025 Business and Human Rights Course.

Upon completion of the course, you will be able to:

• demonstrate a specialised knowledge of human rights standards expected of companies and the challenges they face meeting them;
• understand how to identify if business practices are consistent with human rights standards and evaluate challenges in detail;
• develop sophisticated approaches based on due diligence assessment methods and tools that companies use in order to ensure respect for human rights;
• communicate your expertise in human rights and business to companies, governments, institutions and other actors.

This course will help you understand the interplay between business and human rights, including business impacts, positive and adverse, regardless of corporate intent. 

Through expert guidance this course will help you learn about:

• what companies can and cannot do through an introduction to international human rights standards such as the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, ethical norms and legal principles, and corporate duties;
• the dilemmas of operating in spaces where local standards and rules may vary from and sometimes contradict global standards or policies;
• how senior company executives address challenges and conduct due diligence; 
• existing initiatives and corporate strategies designed to deal with human rights and business and uphold international standards;
• contemporary challenges in business and human rights including climate, just transitions, conflict, technology, and concerns including discrimination.

The first and last course weekends will take place in person in Bergen, Norway, with two intervening weekends taking place virtually. 2024 course dates are below:

Week 1: September 12th - 15th

Week 2: October 4th - 6th

Week 3: October 25th - 27th

Week 4: November 22th - 24th.

Cost for 2024 is NOK 33,000.

The course is hosted by the Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen (UiB), the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, and the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB).

Sessions will comprise a mixture of lectures, seminars, and group discussions. All lectures are streamed using Zoom. 

All relevant materials, including lecture recordings, will be made available through the course pages at the student portal - MittUiB. 

Learn from individuals at the forefront of making human rights part of everyday business. Faculty changes each year but this year's teachers include:

Maryam Al-Khawaja, Human Rights Defender

Andrew Anderson, Chair, Peace Brigades International

Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF)

Vicky Bowman, Senior Advisor, IHRB

Froydis Cameron-Johansson,Global Head of Health Safety Environment and Security, Rio Tinto

Carine Coudeville, VP Human Rights, Sustainability & Climate Division, TotalEnergies

Elise Edson, Counsel, A&O Shearman

Frode Elgesem, Chair, National Contact Point, Norway; judge, Borgarting Court of Appeal

Francesca Fairbairn, Oceans, Commodities, and Academy Programme Manager, IHRB

Heidi Furustøl, Executive Director, Ethical Trade Norway

Claudia-Dominique Geiser, Senior Policy Officer, German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development

Erika George, Professor of Law, Boston University

Isabel Hilton, Founder China Dialogue; Visiting Professor, the Lau Institute KCL; contributing editor Prospect

Therese Jebsen, Senior Advisor, Rafto Foundation for Human Rights

Dr Harpreet Kaur, Business and Human Rights Specialist, United Nations Development Programme, Bangkok Regional Hub

Deanna Kemp, Co-Chair of Trustees, IHRB; Director, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining

Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt, Executive Director, Rafto Foundation; Director, IHRB Nordic

Morten Koch Andersen, Acting director of research and education and senior researcher, Raoul Wallenberg Institute

Rachel Kyte, Co-Chair, VCMI; Former Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All; former Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All

Rae Lindsay, Partner, Clifford Chance LLP

Bonny Ling, Executive Director, Work Better Innovations

Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye, Director, Business and Human Rights, Ericsson

Anton Mifsud-Bonnici, Advocate

John Morrison, Chief Executive, IHRB

Frank Mugisha, Executive Director, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Rafto Laureate, Human Rights Defender

Sidsela Nyebak, Sustainability Expert

Lucy Purdon, Founder, Courage Everywhere

Usha Ramanathan, Human Rights Scholar

Anita Ramasastry, Henry M. Jackson Prof of Law University of Washington; former member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

Nick Robins, Professor in Practice - Sustainable Finance, London School of Economics

Pia Rudolfsson Goyer, Former Senior Advisor, Council on Ethics, Norwegian Government Pension Fund

Nina Schefte, Head of Social Responsibility, Group Sustainability, Norsk Hydro

Deryne Sim, Media & Entertainment Lawyer

Marte Johnsen Stensrud - Vice President Human Rights and Social Responsibility, Corporate Climate & Sustainability, Equinor

Felicity Tapsell, Global Supply Chain – Head of Responsible Sourcing, Bestseller

Mark Taylor, Author of War Economies and International Law

Salil Tripathi, Senior Advisor, Global Issues, IHRB

Owen Tudor, Former Deputy General Secretary, ITUC

Claude Voillat, Independent consultant

Duncan Warner, Senior Responsible Sourcing and Human Rights Manager, ASDA

This course is available to master's students, professionals and anyone interested in business and human rights. 

A bachelor's degree or equivalent and at least two years' work experience is required. The course is with 15 ECTS credit points. 

Students will be required to complete a semester paper, assigned at the beginning of the semester, of not more than 4,500 words, to be submitted four weeks after the last weekend gathering (grading scale A-F).

For more details on the course, please contact Andrea Mevold Zakariassen andrea.zakariassen@uib.no at the UiB’s Department of Comparative Politics.