John G. Ruggie
In his role as Senior Advisor within the Corporate Social Responsibility Practice, John Ruggie advises clients on human rights-related risk and other aspects of corporate citizenship. This includes helping multinational clients navigate the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which he authored to provide guidance to companies on managing the human rights impacts of their operations. Key elements of the Guiding Principles have been incorporated into the updated OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and into ISO 26000, a new social responsibility standard adopted by the International Organization for Standardization.
John served as the UN Special Representative for Business and Human Rights from 2005-2011. His mandate was to propose measures to strengthen the human rights performance of the business sector around the world. In 2008, the UN Human Rights Council welcomed a policy framework he proposed for that purpose and extended the mandate for a further three years provide concrete guidance to governments and businesses. The end result was the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, drafted by John and unanimously endorsed by the U.N. Human Rights Council in June, 2011.
As one of the premier authorities on corporate citizenship and responsibility, John has made significant contributions to the study of international relations, focusing on the impact of globalization on global rule making. He has long been involved in practical policy work, initially as a consultant to various agencies of the United Nations and the United States government. From 1997-2001, John was United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning – a post created specifically for him by then Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His responsibilities included establishing and overseeing the UN Global Compact, now the world’s largest corporate citizenship initiative; proposing and gaining General Assembly approval for the Millennium Development Goals; advising Annan on relations with Washington; and broadly contributing to the effort at institutional renewal for which Annan and the United Nations as a whole were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.
HONORS/AWARDS
- Named one of the top 10 “Ethical Leaders” by Ethical Corporation magazine, 2008
- Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa), McMaster University, Canada, 2000
- Hubert H. Humphrey Award for outstanding public service, American Political Science Association, 2000
- Fellow, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, since 1999
- Distinguished Scholar Award, International Studies Association, 1999
- Listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World
- Berthold Beitz Professor of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School (since 2001), Affiliated Professor of International Legal Studies, Harvard Law School (since 2005)
- Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Business and Human Rights, 2005-2011
- Assistant Secretary-General, Senior Adviser for Strategic Planning to the Secretary-General, United Nations, New York, 1997-2001
- Burgess Professor of Political Science, James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations, Columbia University, 1996-2001 (on public service leave 1997-2001)
- Dean, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, 1991-1996
- “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework,” UN Document A/HRC/17/31 (March 21, 2011)
- “Protect, Respect and Remedy: The UN Framework for Business and Human Rights,” in M. Baderin and M. Ssenyonjo (eds), International Human Rights Law: Six Decades after the UDHR and Beyond (Ashgate, 2010)
- “Clarifying the Concepts of ‘Sphere of Influence’ and ‘Corporate Complicity’: Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises,” UN Document A/HRC/8/16 (May 15, 2008)
- “Business and Human Rights: The Evolving International Agenda,” American Journal of International Law (October 2007)
- “Global Markets and Global Governance: The Prospects for Convergence,” in Stephen Bernstein and Louis W. Pauly, eds, Global Governance: Towards a New Grand Compromise? (Albany: State University Press of New York, 2007)
- “Doctrinal Unilateralism and its Limits: America and Global Governance in the New Century,” in David P. Forsythe, Patrice C. McMahon and Andrew Wedeman, eds, American Foreign Policy in a Globalized World (New York: Routledge, 2006)
