国务院国资委党委: 不断创新发展中国特色国有资产监管体制 [Party Committee of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council: Continuously innovate and develop the state-owned assets supervision system with Chinese characteristics]

 

图为2024年3月14日，青海盐湖工业股份有限公司钾肥分公司的采盐船在盐湖作业。 新华社记者 陈杰/摄 The picture shows a salt mining ship of the Potash Fertilizer Branch of Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co., Ltd. operating in the salt lake on March 14, 2024. Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Jie/photo

 

Issue 8 (224) of the Journal Qiushi 《求是》2024(8) included an article worth a little study. In  国务院国资委党委:   不断创新发展中国特色国有资产监管体制 [Party Committee of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council: Continuously innovate and develop the state-owned assets supervision system with Chinese characteristics] one has a quite interesting statement about the way in which state assets, organized as State Owned or Controlled Enterprises are at once embedded within Party governance structures, state oversight apparatus, and complementary socialist market operations. That is how Chinese SOEs must serve as the economic expression of vanguard leadership, managed through state organs , but which are, at the same time, to be run efficiently and make money, while at the same time contributing to core vanguard objectives--among them innovation, high quality development, ecological civilization, and integrity.

That sets up some binaries. For example, on the one hand

新征程上，国有企业承担的责任更加重大、使命更加光荣，必须坚决把加强党的领导党的建设贯穿国有资产监管全过程、各方面，切实把政治优势、制度优势转化为发展优势、竞争优势，推动国有企业更好地成为我们党赢得具有许多新的历史特点的伟大斗争胜利的重要力量。On the new journey, state-owned enterprises bear more important responsibilities and more glorious missions. They must resolutely strengthen party leadership and party building throughout the entire process and all aspects of state-owned assets supervision, and effectively transform political and institutional advantages into development and competitive advantages, to promote state-owned enterprises to better become an important force for our party to win the victory of the great struggle with many new historical characteristics.

And on the other:

坚持社会主义市场经济改革方向，持续深化政企分开、政资分开。坚持社会主义市场经济改革方向，是国有企业改革始终不能动摇的重大原则， Adhere to the direction of socialist market economic reform and continue to deepen the separation of government from enterprises and the separation of government from capital. Adhering to the direction of socialist market economic reform is an important principle that cannot be shaken in the reform of state-owned enterprises.

The bridge, it seems, is bound up in the leadership of the vanguard.  And that leadership at the level of the enterprise, is embedded in the SOE Party Committee, but perhaps more importantly in the alignment of party, supervision, and business functions within the bodies of a substantially overlapping leading group.

坚持服务国家战略的责任担当，推动国有企业实现经济责任、政治责任、社会责任相统一。国有企业是中国特色社会主义经济的顶梁柱，必须自觉服务党和国家工作大局。推动国有企业坚决落实国家重大战略，是国有资产监管工作的重要职责。Adhere to the responsibility of serving the national strategy and promote the unity of economic, political and social responsibilities of state-owned enterprises. State-owned enterprises are the backbone of the socialist economy with Chinese characteristics and must consciously serve the overall work of the party and the country. Promoting state-owned enterprises to resolutely implement major national strategies is an important responsibility of state-owned assets supervision. 

The essay follows below in the original Chinese and in a crude English translation.

 

Interesting Articles Recently Published in Qiushi 《求是》2024(8)

 

There are a number of quite interesting articles in the most recent issue of Qiushi 《求是》2024(8). In addition to their substance, there is much to be learned by the choices of what was published. The Introduction to the issue provides a nice summary (in the original Chinese and an English translation). The table of content with links follows.

 Introduction to this issue
Source: "Qiushi" 2024/08 2024-04-16 09:00:00

This issue publishes an important article by General Secretary Xi Jinping "Strengthening the Protection and Inheritance of Cultural Heritage and Promoting China's Excellent Traditional Culture." The article emphasizes that cultural relics and cultural heritage carry the genes and blood of the Chinese nation and are non-renewable and irreplaceable relics of outstanding Chinese civilization's resources. * * *

This journal distributes an editorial article "Creating New Glory of Chinese Culture in the Continuous Historical Context" that studies the important articles of General Secretary Xi Jinping.

Focusing on the study, publicity and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important articles, this journal published articles by Ni Hong, Li Qun, and the Dunhuang Research Institute, respectively, on how to do a solid job in the new era under the guidance of Xi Jinping’s cultural thoughts. Explain the current urban and rural historical and cultural protection and inheritance work, strengthen the protection and utilization of cultural relics and the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage, and continue to protect Dunhuang cultural heritage. Articles by the Party Leadership Group of the Supreme People's Court of the Communist Party of China, studying and implementing Xi Jinping's Thought on the Rule of Law, and explaining how to modernize judicial work to support and serve Chinese modernization. Chen Yixin's article summarizes the historic achievements in national security work in the 10 years since the overall national security concept was put forward, and explains the study and implementation of the overall national security concept. Nobunaga Star's article introduces Jiangsu's learning and implementation of the overall national security concept and ensuring high-quality development with high-level security. An article by the Party Committee of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council explains the innovative development of a state-owned assets supervision system with Chinese characteristics. Zhang Hongzhi's article elaborates on the contemporary value and historical significance of "the second combination". The article by the China Agricultural University Committee of the Communist Party of China tells the story of the science and technology courtyard's efforts to improve people's livelihood, cultivate knowledge, and educate talents. The National Bureau of Statistics released a statistical chart of economic and social development: China's manufacturing purchasing managers index indicators.

本期导读
来源：《求是》2024/08 2024-04-16 09:00:00

　　本期发表了习近平总书记的重要文章《加强文化遗产保护传承 弘扬中华优秀传统文化》。文章强调，文物和文化遗产承载着中华民族的基因和血脉，是不可再生、不可替代的中华优秀文明资源。* * *

　　本刊配发了学习习近平总书记重要文章的编辑部文章《在赓续历史文脉中铸就中华文化新辉煌》。

　　围绕学习宣传贯彻习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想和习近平总书记重要文章精神，本期刊发了倪虹、李群、敦煌研究院的文章，分别对以习近平文化思想为指导，扎实做好新时代城乡历史文化保护传承工作、加强文物保护利用和文化遗产保护传承、赓续守护敦煌文化遗产作出阐释。中共最高人民法院党组的文章，学习贯彻习近平法治思想，阐释以审判工作现代化支撑和服务中国式现代化。陈一新的文章，总结总体国家安全观提出10年来国家安全工作取得的历史性成就，对学习贯彻总体国家安全观作出阐释。信长星的文章，介绍江苏学习贯彻总体国家安全观、以高水平安全保障高质量发展情况。国务院国资委党委的文章，对创新发展中国特色国有资产监管体制作出阐释。张宏志的文章，阐述“第二个结合”的时代价值与历史意义。中共中国农业大学委员会的文章，讲述科技小院解民生、治学问、育英才的故事。国家统计局发布了经济社会发展统计图表：中国制造业采购经理指数各指标情况。

 

Keren Wang: "Constitutional Dynamics in China-Taiwan Relations: A Historical and Comparative Analysis" Presentation at Emory International Law Review Symposium, Disputed Territories Across the Globe

 

 

I was delighted to have been able to attend Keren Wang's presentation entitled "Constitutional Dynamics in China-Taiwan Relations: A Historical and Comparative Analysis" prepared for the Emory International Law Review 2024 Symposium: Disputed Territories Across the Globe: A Future of Peace or Change?, 13 April 2024 which was held at the Emory University School of Law. 

Dr. Wang provided a refreshingly sophisticated comparative analysis of the constitution of the constitutions of the PRC and Taiwan (originally for the RoC) drawing from the run up to the consultative conference of 1946, and reaching back to its ideological origins from the end of the Qing dynasty and Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary vision. Though that vision eventually fractured in a CPC and a KMT variants, their congruence and differences  provide an important window on Chinese constitutional discourse and its ideological expressions. It was a marvelous presentation.

With Dr Wang's permission I am sharing the presentation PPT which provides a good overview of the remarks, along with a snippet video of the presentation itself. The PPT and link to the snippet follow below. Link to an English language version of the 1946 constitution here. Link to the English language version of the 1949 Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference here.

 Keren Wang (PhD Penn State) is the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Emerging Choices Fellow at Emory University's Dept. of Russian and East Asian Languages and Cultures.

 

陈凯华 郭锐 面向数字化绿色化转型发展新质生产力 [Chen Kaihua Guo Rui: "Facing digital and green transformation to develop new productive forces"], Drones, and the Russo-Ukraine War

 

Pix Credit here (1954, Concentrate the Major Force in Developing Heavy Industry)

 

The issue of the identification of productive forces, and their instrumentalization towards the fundamental task of the Chinese Communist Party has been at the center of Chinese Leninist theory since before the CPC became the ruling party of the PRC.  It continues to have substantial repercussions--not merely for the alignment of theory and policy, but for its geo-political effects of its implementation.

In the move from the Era of Reform and Opening Up to the New Era of historical development, the character of productive forces, and the role of the vanguard in guiding that development and shaping that character has been changing in substantial respect. Among the most interesting has been the broadening of the notion of productive forces to expand beyond economic, to social, cultural, and managerial.  Recently, two other principles have become important.  One is subsumed within broad theoretical principles of innovation. The other embraces the emerging theoretical structures of ecological civilization.  Recently these have increasingly been aligned. And that alignment has proven to produce some potentially significant side effects of value to China.

One gets a good sense of the arc of that development in a recently published essay:  陈凯华 郭锐 面向数字化绿色化转型发展新质生产力 [Chen Kaihua Guo Rui: "Facing digital and green transformation to develop new productive forces"], which was published on 9 April 2024 in the《光明日报》[Guangming Daily]. The article provides a flavor of the emerging approaches, and more importantly, what sorts of initiatives are increasingly grouped together for networked development. The role of AI and generative big data tech is an important element--one not constrained by the premise system that characterizes European law making.

The essay appears below in its original Chinese and in a crude English translation.

Ordinarily one might find this essay to have only a curious resonance with events in the real world.  And yet, at about the time I was reading this I also read a most curious story published on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal: Heather Somerville and Brett Forrest, "U.S. Made Drones have Largely Failed in Ukraine Combat," (WSJ 11 April 2024, p. A1) (Online as "How American Drone Failed to Turn the Tide in Ukraine".  And this:

In the first war to feature small drones prominently, U.S. companies still have no meaningful presence. Made-in-America drones tend to be expensive, glitchy and hard to repair, said drone company executives, Ukrainians on the front lines, Ukrainian government officials and former U.S. defense officials. Instead, Ukraine has tuned to cheaper Chinese products. . . The military is using off-the-shelf Chinese drones, primarily from SZ DJI Technology. Ukraine has also developed a domestic drone industry that relies on Chinese components." (Ibid, pp. A1, A7).

One can only wonder, in this context,  whether about many things. But primarily one notes that the alignment of ideology, policy, and implementation appears to be better aligned outside the United States than within our Republic.  That ought to cause those responsible techno-managers and their overseers (policy, finance, tech) some concern. And, as a side note, it appears to complicate the position of China in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Pix credit here

 

Video Recording Now Available: [Online lecture] “You can’t stop the signal”: From the past to the future of digitally mediated sustainability due diligence?" (8 April 2024) 1630 CEST Asser Institute Spring Academy

 

 I am delighted to pass along the link to the video recording of my [Online lecture] “'You can’t stop the signal': From the past to the future of digitally mediated sustainability due diligence?" which was delivered 8 April 2024 as part of the marvelous Asser Institute Spring Academy  Technologies of sustainability due diligence: Digital tools and global value chain regulations. 

The text of my remarks and the associated PowerPoint may be accessed and downloaded at the following links: ACCESS REMARKS HERE; ACCESS PPT HERE.

The link to the video recording may be accessed here or here [https://youtu.be/6EnBNV1kw2s]. It is also accessible through the Coalition for Peace & Ethics YouTube Channel in the Conference Presentations Playlist. 

Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland (ECHR 087 (2024) 09.04.2024)

 

Pix Credit here

In a quite interesting case, the European Court of Human Rights issued its opinion and judgment in  Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland (ECHR 087 (2024) 09.04.2024). Rather than providing a second hand summary of the summary of the ECHR action it might be worth reading the Press Release issued by the ECHR:

Violations of the European Convention for failing to implement sufficient
measures to combat climate change
In today’s Grand Chamber judgment1 in the case of Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland (application no. 53600/20) the European Court of Human Rights held, by a majority of sixteen votes to one, that there had been:

a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights;

and, unanimously, that there had been:

a violation of Article 6 § 1 (access to court).

The case concerned a complaint by four women and a Swiss association, Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz, whose members are all older women concerned about the consequences of global warming on their living conditions and health. They consider that the Swiss authorities are not taking sufficient action, despite their duties under the Convention, to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The Court found that Article 8 of the Convention encompasses a right to effective protection by the State authorities from the serious adverse effects of climate change on lives, health, well-being and quality of life.
However, it held that the four individual applicants did not fulfil the victim-status criteria under Article 34 of the Convention and declared their complaints inadmissible. The applicant association, in contrast, had the right (locus standi) to bring a complaint regarding the threats arising from climate change in the respondent State on behalf of those individuals who could arguably claim to be subject to specific threats or adverse effects of climate change on their life, health, well-being and quality of life as protected under the Convention.
The Court found that the Swiss Confederation had failed to comply with its duties (“positive
obligations”) under the Convention concerning climate change. There had been critical gaps in the process of putting in place the relevant domestic regulatory framework, including a failure by the Swiss authorities to quantify, through a carbon budget or otherwise, national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions limitations. Switzerland had also failed to meet its past GHG emission reduction targets.
While recognising that national authorities enjoy wide discretion in relation to implementation of legislation and measures, the Court held, on the basis of the material before it, that the Swiss authorities had not acted in time and in an appropriate way to devise, develop and implement relevant legislation and measures in this case.
In addition, the Court found that Article 6 § 1 of the Convention applied to the applicant
association’s complaint concerning effective implementation of the mitigation measures under
existing domestic law. The Court held that the Swiss courts had not provided convincing reasons as to why they had considered it unnecessary to examine the merits of the applicant association’s complaints. They had failed to take into consideration the compelling scientific evidence concerning climate change and had not taken the complaints seriously.
For further information, please see these Questions and Answers on the three Grand Chamber cases

"The ECHR on Tuesday ruled that two other similar climate cases were inadmissible: one was brought by six Portuguese youths petitioning against more than 30 European governments and another was submitted by a former mayor of a French town." (A landmark ruling in Europe's top rights court delivers a watershed moment for climate litigation).

The 258 page judgment may be accessed HERE. The table of contents with links to each section follows below along with links to other filings in the case.  

Mauricio Lissovsky "A fotografia e seus duplos" [Photograghy and its Duplications" disponível online gratuitamente [available free online]

 

Pix credit here

 

The question of the photograph has been at the center of modernity, and now deeply embedded in the reconsideration of the intersubjectivity of the person (and social collectives)  in their encounters with the simulacra of the virtual and its generative consciousness (Jan Broekman, Knowledge in Change (Springer, 2023); Larry Catá Backer, 'The Soulful Machine' Int'l J. Semiotics of Law (2024)). 

It is with that in mind that I was delighted to receive news from Acaso Cultural (Brazil) of the publication of a quite marvelous book focusing on photography, mimesis and photographic reproduction that marvelously engages with these themes of mimesis, intersubjectivity, and the simulacra of the virtual.  The book, Mauricio Lissovsky "A fotografia e seus duplos" [Photograghy and its Duplications" disponível online gratuitamente [available free online]. LINK TO DOWNLOAD ALSO HERE.

This in part from the Press Release:

Pix credit here

Mauricio Lissovsky foi historiador e professor da Escola de Comunicação da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Foi pesquisador sênior do IDEA – Programa de Estudos Avançados (grupo de pesquisa vinculado à ECO/UFRJ). Autor de “O Ф da fotografia” (online, 2021), “Pausas do destino: teoria, arte e história da fotografia” (Mauad X, 2014) e “A máquina de esperar: origem e estética da fotografia moderna” (Mauad X, 2008).
Mauricio Lissovsky deixou A fotografia e seus duplos pronto, antes de morrer, em agosto de 2022. Era seu desejo que o livro saísse por um selo do IDEA – Programa de Estudos Avançados, grupo de pesquisa da ECO/UFRJ do qual participou brilhantemente, como era seu hábito ser, revelando-se sempre nas mais insuspeitadas derivações do pensamento.
A Acaso Cultural, que traz com o IDEA e com Lissovsky uma parceria de primeira hora, tem agora a honra e o privilégio de lançar este novo selo, e de estreá-lo com a edição em ebook de A fotografia e seus duplos. O livro traz uma coletânea de textos ensaísticos e filosóficos sobre fotografia e fotógrafos, com imagens (muitas vezes interpretadas de maneira surpreendente) correspondentes aos textos, dando forma assim a um importante conjunto para os estudos sobre história da fotografia.

Pix credit here

Mauricio Lissovsky was a historian and professor at the School of Communication at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He was a senior researcher at IDEA – Advanced Studies Program (research group linked to ECO / UFRJ). Author of “The Ф of photography” (online, 2021), “Pauses of destiny: theory, art and history of photography” (Mauad X, 2014) and “The waiting machine: origin and aesthetics of modern photography” (Mauad , 2008).
Mauricio Lissovsky left Photography and Its Doubles ready, before he died, in August 2022. It was his wish that the book would come out under an IDEA – Advanced Studies Program, research group at ECO/UFRJ in which he participated brilliantly, as it was his habit to be, always revealing himself in the most unsuspected derivations of thought.
Acaso Cultural, which has a first-time partnership with IDEA and Lissovsky, now has the honor and privilege of launching this new label, and of debuting it with the ebook edition of Photography and its Doubles. The book brings a collection of essayistic and philosophical texts about photography and photographers, with images (often interpreted in surprising ways) corresponding to the texts, thus giving shape to an important set for studies on the history of photography.

The book is well worth reading carefully for its insights about mimesis, and the inetrsubjectivity of likeness and object. Its adds greatly to approaching understanding of the operation of conscious in a mimetic world of object-simulacra-object, and of the multiple consciousness to which it gives form (physical and generative).

The book is available for download FREE HERE.

The opening (A Máquina de Semelhanças/The Resemblance Machine) follows below in the original Portuguese and an English translation.

From the American Law Institute: "Principles for Insurrection Act Reform" (April 8, 2024)

Pix Credit New York Times

One of the great sub-texts of the US presidential elections scheduled for November 2024 revolves around the application and consequences of the US Insurrection Act--and with that the ability of factions to defend or destroy the aspirations, ambitions, and political career of Mr. Trump as he seeks (again) the US presidency. This is part of a deeper factional war (there is no better word sadly) among American governing elites and their fight for the hearts and mind of the population, collections of individuals that all factions might be tempted to signify as the purportedly easily categorized variations of "baskets of deplorables" whose votes they both need (1) to secure control of the political offices from which management of the American public and private administrative apparatus is easier, and (2) to manage them through those organs of the state apparatus and their allies in the private sphere. That war has taken not just a narrative turn (my discussion here, here, and here), but also has sought to use the great levers of American reality making through the courts (e.g. here, here, and general theoretical discussion here, and here).

 

Now comes statutory reform. In a Press Release dated 8 April 2024, the American Law Institute made available its guidance for Insurrection Act Reform.

Today, a bipartisan group led by Bob Bauer (NYU School of Law and former White House Counsel to President Obama) and Jack Goldsmith (Harvard Law School and former Assistant Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration) issued “Principles for Insurrection Act Reform.” The distinguished group, convened at the invitation of The American Law Institute, is made up of persons with a range of legal and political views who have a rich variety of backgrounds in constitutional law, national security law, and military law, and have held senior positions in government. A complete list of group members can be found below.

Explaining the impetus for the project, Bauer said, “The Insurrection Act is a centuries-old federal statute that authorizes the president to deploy the armed forces and state militias into action within the United States to address rebellion against the federal or state governments, major outbreaks of domestic violence, and the imminent or actual collapse of law enforcement. It is poorly drafted, replete with vague or obsolete language, and it has been clear for decades that this antiquated law needs serious revision.”

“There is agreement on both sides of the aisle that the Insurrection Act gives any president too much unchecked power,” Goldsmith added. “The Principles for Insurrection Act Reform proposes a set of core standards to guide constitutionally sound, bipartisan reform that aims to address the Act’s flaws while reflecting the need for U.S. armed forces to remain available in extreme cases to respond to domestic threats. These Principles are neutral in design and apply to any president’s invocation of the Insurrection Act.” (Press Release)

At its heart is its conclusion--which also serves as the jumping off point for the textual ecologies they mean to build around it.

A reformed Insurrection Act should:

• Require the president to consult, prior to the deployment of troops, with the governor of any state into which troops will be deployed.
• Require the president to make findings on the need to invoke the Insurrection Act, and to report these findings to Congress, along with a summary of consultations with state authorities, within 24 hours of deployment.
• Establish a time limit on the president’s authority to deploy troops under the Insurrection Act. The time limit should not exceed 30 days absent renewed congressional authorization.

• Establish a fast-track procedure for Congress to vote on renewal of presidential authority under the Insurrection Act. (ALI Principles for Insurrection Act Reform (8 April 2024) pp. 3-4)

Pix credit here

And, of course, in addition to the suggestions for structural reform were suggestions for getting rid of language the problems which which included that (1) people no longer understood the words; and (3) courts had not taken the trouble to build structures of interpretation around them sufficient to solve the problem of linguistic incomprehensibility. Thus, while courts have managed to interpret over the antique words and phrasing of the Federal Constitution, the absent of a similar effort respecting the Insurrection Act necessarily doomed it to reform--like the reform of the King James Bible, perhaps. 

Reform is necessary.  The approach suggested represents a reasonable, or at least plausible, grounding for first steps in the direction of reform--and more importantly for sparking a national conversation about "insurrection" and the power of political officials to direct the military in the protection of the nation (on this case against elements of itself). Ironically that discussion may paralell the (much mocked in the West) discussion of the development of a theoretical framework of "patriots/hostile forces" at the heart of Marxist-Leninist approaches to a similar problem. The answer that thoughtful protectors of liberal democracy will be quite different from those developed in the Marxist-Leninist camp. But those differences can be useful in testing and affirming the principles and expression of liberal democracy in an influential  federal republic.

 

The exploitation of the ALI's reform principles in the current election campaign indirectly (or directly) is onevitable. The exhortation of Congress is theatrical and likely unavailing at least until Fenruary 2025. I suspect we have not heard the end of this given the time left in this current presidential election cycle and the attachment of issues around the application of the Insurrection Act to the likely candidate of the Republican Party. The traditional deference to political decision making at the heart of the act remains respected--the scope of judicial review would remain both unchanged and left to judicial development in case law.

 

The Statement of the ALI Project and identification of the Project's core of leadership follows below.

 

[Online lecture] “You can’t stop the signal”: From the past to the future of digitally mediated sustainability due diligence?" (8 April 2024) 1630 CEST Asser Institute Spring Academy

 

 I was delighted to have been invited to participate in the Asser Institute: Center for International and European Law & University of Amsterdam Law School-[Spring Academy] Technologies of sustainability due diligence: Digital tools and global value chain regulations which takes place in The Hague,  Netherlands from 8-12 April 2024. My great thanks to the organizers, Antoine Duval, and  Klaas Hendrik Eller.

My task is to deliver remarks (online) to end the first day of the Spring Academy. Entitled “You Can’t Stop the ‘Signal’: From the Past to the Future of Digitally Mediated Sustainability Due Diligence” the object is to take a deep dive into the role of tech in emerging sustainability due diligence systems, and at the same time to consider the role of such systems in big data tech systems. My object is to consider the issues and direction of development when two platforms with different operating systems interact. 

The short summary I prepared fleshes out the themes I hope to cover:

Regulatory governance is well within a process of transformation from a managerial system deeply embedded in the classical model of the rule-of-law state grounded in positive (or customary) law pronounced by an authoritative body clothed in the legislative power, to the world of the panopticon and the disciplines. Social relations and the institutions that support them are moving from physical to virtual spaces, from markets to platforms, and from managerialism to techno-bureaucracies. Within these techno-bureaucracies administrators articulate norms and objectives which are translated by coders into generative systems that then undertake their development and application. The transformation becomes decisive as language, standards, and operations become opaque to non-specialists and extra-administrative accountability weakens. That movement is at the heart of the operationalization of technology enhanced due diligence in the field of business and sustainability (including human rights). These remarks consider the role of technology in the evolution and application of sustainability due diligence systems. That evolution and the shaping of the role of tech within it, is being undertaken within broader changes to the normative and regulatory landscape of collective human social relations. These include (1) the movement toward alignment of public policy and private activity (especially in the context of economic activities); (2) governmentalization of private sector activity; (3) the rise of compliance based accountability (quality control) governance; (4) the revolution in the normative valuation of human rights and sustainability as both a set of culturally superior expectations and legal requirements; (5) the revolution in the methods of assessment and accountability; and (6) the migration of these functions from the realms of human-centered textualist language-consciousness to coded data centered systems of assessment against ideals, both of which may be managed by generative intelligence. That is the “signal” for which technology is both essential and essentially transformative. Each will be considered in turn in the context of sustainability due diligence. 

More about the event HERE. Registration for the event is FREE and may be accessed HERE [https://www.asser.academy/register/DD8Apr2024]

The TEXT of the Remarks along with the PowerPoint follow below. They can also be accessed online: ACCESS REMARKS HERE; ACCESS PPT HERE.

NEW PUBLICATION Access to Remedy in Cases of Business-related Human Rights Abuse: An Interpretive Guide

 

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has announced distribution of a new publication emerging from the OHCHR's excellent Accountability and Remedy Project (ARP). It is entitled Access to Remedy in Cases of Business-related Human Rights Abuse: An Interpretive Guide.

 This from the Press Release:

This interpretive guide provides additional background explanation on the principles of the access to remedy pillar of the Guiding Principles so as to support a full understanding of their meaning and intent. It aims to equip all actors, whether specialist or non-specialist, with the knowledge and insights needed for more productive engagement and advocacy in relation to access to remedy for business and human rights harms in a wide range of contexts.

This is an advance version of the guide; a professionally designed and translated version of the guide will be published as soon as it is ready.

The publication is highly recommended as are the other ARP publications.