Promoting socially responsible institutions

The Corporate Citizenship and Integrity cluster examines law, norms and standards in the governance, regulation and financing of corporations from Australian, regional and international perspectives.

This cluster explores optimal regulatory and governance strategies to promote socially responsible business and financial institutions to meet the legal, ethical, social, environmental and security needs in an increasingly privatised, innovative and corporatised world.

Projects in this cluster include:

The B&HR Access to Justice Lab (A2J Lab), a part of Macquarie University's Professional and Community Engagement (PACE) program, provides selected law students every year an opportunity to work with leading business and human rights experts and external organisations to promote corporate accountability for human rights abuses.

The A2J Lab conducts research, develops practical tools, builds capacity of civil society organisations and assists affected individuals and communities in Asia Pacific to seek remedies for corporate human rights abuses. Some of the Lab's projects are funded by external organisations such the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Freedom Fund.

For more information about the Lab, see our fact sheet.

Researchers

Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing efforts are essential to the global fight against crime and terrorism. As criminals and terrorists continue to raise money using a variety of means, including new technologies, countries and corporations must make it a priority to understand the risks they face and to develop comprehensive and effective policy responses.

Disrupting financial flows and transactions is one of the most effective ways to fight crime and terrorism. Not only can this disruption prevent future attacks by blocking material support, it can also provide information on illicit purchases, withdrawals and other financial transactions that can be invaluable for ongoing investigations.

The Financial Integrity Hub (FIH) drives transformative change through interdisciplinary and future-focused research that provides cutting-edge solutions to the global challenge of financial crime.

Visit the Financial Integrity Hub website and follow us on LinkedIn for more information.

Researcher

Various regulatory strategies have been tried over the years to ensure that businesses respect human rights. Strategic human rights litigation has been one of those strategies. The B&HR Access to Justice Lab team at Macquarie Law School along with the Australian Human Rights Institute secured funding from Freedom Fund to:

  • investigate when, how and why strategic human rights litigation has (or has not) led to changes in corporate behaviour
  • identify successful strategies to increase the impact of strategic litigation on corporate behaviour
  • propose how to measure the impacts of strategic litigation on corporate behaviour.
Researchers