An Asean plan for corporate citizenship?

In a joint commentary, SMU Assistant Professor of Law Mahdev Mohan and Jaya Anil Kumar, who are SMU School of Law's Asian Business and Rule of Law Initiative Director and Research Associate respectively, and ASEAN CSR Network CEO Thomas Thomas, noted that Singapore may be ahead of the pack in terms of the national action plans (NAPs) it has put in place to engender and reinforce corporate citizenship, including respect for human rights. NAPs are policy guidelines by which a country articulates actions that it will adopt to implement a particular prerogative. Assistant Prof Mohan, Jaya Anil Kumar and Mr Thomas’ research has shown that laws and remedies follow where norms are enshrined through NAPs. Thus, in the wake of the historic Paris agreement to combat climate change, they recommend that other ASEAN states consider having NAPs to combat regional problems like haze pollution and Trafficking in Persons too. Also, given that NAP processes should be subject to domestic reporting and periodic review to ensure that they remain relevant, Singapore should continue to play a major role in the regional conversation about climate change and corporate citizenship.