EdX

Global Business and Human Rights (edX)

Global Business and Human Rights (edX)

Explore how companies can understand, address and manage their human rights impacts. Discover links of business activities, global supply chains and human rights from different perspectives. Globalization includes the promise of economic development and wellbeing for all. However, from the early days of international trade until today this scarcely came without unfavorable, sometimes dreadful consequences for humans, be it slavery in colonial crop plantations, health and safety risks for coal miners throughout industrialization or, more recently, discrimination of factory workers in sweatshops.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see EdX's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

With an ever more complex framework of human rights establishing around the world and stakeholder expectations towards business conduct, managers of modern companies need to find ways for their organizations how these comply with laws and regulations on the international arena and to manifest as responsible corporations.
This course delivers a fundamental understanding of the connections between business conduct and human rights in a globalized world for an audience, who are generally interested in globalization and human rights and for individuals who are working at such interfaces in companies, civil society, intergovernmental or government organizations.
In this course we illustrate the various connections and impacts between globalization, company activities and human rights from an ethical, historical, cultural and legal perspective. It gives an overview of important institutions and their role in the discussion about human rights, and on relevant concepts, approaches and tools that companies use to address and manage human rights.

What you'll learn

  • Understand, how business activities of companies in different industry sectors are linked to human rights issues in a globalized world
  • Reflect, which perspectives are relevant to understand the links between global business and human rights issues
  • Know, which organizations worldwide engage in addressing human rights issues in their connection to companies and business activities
  • Analyze, which concepts, approaches and tools business companies in different industry sectors may use to manage their impact on human rights issues
Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

The Right to Protest (edX) EdX
Amnesty International,AmnestyInternationalX

The Right to Protest (edX)

Learn why protest is protected by human rights, how the freedom to protest is under threat throughout the world, and how you can defend your right to protest. The freedom to call for change, and to amplify that call through mass mobilization, is vital for open and rights-respecting societies. Protests enable people to air grievances, express opinions, petition for remedies for wrongdoing, and to publicly demand accountability. Through protest, those who have been silenced, disempowered or disenfranchised can claim their voice, their strength and their political power.

No sessions available
3 Weeks
The EU and Human Rights (edX) EdX
KU Leuven University

The EU and Human Rights (edX)

Learn how the EU affects your human rights and gain insights into the ways the EU can enhance its positive impact on human rights worldwide. Whether you are an EU citizen or not, this course concerns you! The EU is a major global actor in the field of human rights. EU treaties state that human rights are a fundamental value of the Union, which must be a ‘silver thread’ in all its policies.

No sessions available
5-12 Weeks
Ethics, Culture, and Global Perspectives (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Ethics, Culture, and Global Perspectives (Coursera)

In this course, you will acquire a deep understanding of the importance and role of ethics within and beyond the organization as well as realize the benefits and challenges of a diverse culture and various – and changing – global perspectives. The professional business skills related to ethics, culture, and global perspectives gained through this course will help you to succeed working in any organization.

Jun 22nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
International Business I (Coursera) Coursera
University of New Mexico

International Business I (Coursera)

We live in a world of intensifying global relationships, one in which international business has become the key determinant of economic development and prosperity. This course, Global Business Environment, Part I, introduces students to a fundamental understanding of the socioeconomic political, cultural, and linguistic environment in which international businesses operate.

Jun 22nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Sustainability in Everyday Life (edX) EdX
Chalmers University of Technology,ChalmersX

Sustainability in Everyday Life (edX)

This course will arm you with the information and skills required to make more sustainable choices everyday! Daily headlines warn of new chemical dangers, species on the edge of extinction, global warming-- framing our planet as “at risk.” Some people stop listening, others get alarmed, while some others want to learn more in hopes of making a difference in the world.

No sessions available
5-12 Weeks
Droits humains: Les droits des réfugiés (edX) EdX
Amnesty International,AmnestyInternationalX

Droits humains: Les droits des réfugiés (edX)

Agissez pour les droits humains. Ce cours vous permettra d’acquérir des connaissances sur les droits humains des personnes réfugiées et vous donnera les moyens de défendre ces droits. Aux quatre coins du globe, des barrières se dressent. Chaque jour, des personnes fuyant la guerre et les persécutions voient les portes se fermer devant eux.

No sessions available
3 Weeks
Making Universal Social Protection a Reality (edX) EdX
SDGAcademyX,SDG Academy

Making Universal Social Protection a Reality (edX)

This course provides an introduction to social protection, covering different issues including the human right to social security, the need for social protection over the life cycle, the process of building universal social protection systems and the key role of social protection in confronting the major challenges that the world is facing.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Relações Internacionais (Coursera) Coursera
FIA Business School

Relações Internacionais (Coursera)

Nossas boas-vindas ao Curso Relações Internacionais. Este curso tem o objetivo de apresentar os tipos de acordos e instituições que constituem o comércio internacional. O participante também compreenderá os mecanismos de classificação fiscal, as medidas protecionistas e as tradicionais etapas de internacionalização de empresas.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Indigenous Peoples' Rights (edX) EdX
Columbia University

Indigenous Peoples' Rights (edX)

Examine how Indigenous Peoples have been contesting norms, institutions and global debates in the past 50 years, and how they have been re-shaping and gradually decolonizing these systems at international and national levels. Indigenous Peoples, numbering more than 476 million in some 90 countries and about 5000 groups and representing a great part of the world’s human diversity and cultural heritage, continue to raise major controversies and to face threats to their physical and cultural existence.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
International Human Rights Law (edX) EdX
LouvainX,Université Catholique de Louvain - UCL

International Human Rights Law (edX)

Learn how an individual’s human rights are protected from both public and private power by international laws. Human rights are developed through the constant dialogue between international human rights bodies and domestic courts, in a search that crosses geographical, cultural and legal boundaries. The result is a unique human rights grammar, which this course shall discuss and question, examining the sources of human rights, the rights of individuals, the duties of States, and the mechanisms of protection.

Self Paced
Self-Paced