Deceit Or Dignity - David Kinley Explains The Leadership Dilemma To Respect Human Rights

Today’s guest is Professor David Kinley, someone who has deeply influenced and inspired my personal approach to a corporate’s responsibility to respect human rights. David holds the chair of human rights law at the university of Sydney, is an academic expert of doughty street chamber in London, a founding member of Australian lawyers for human rights and a board member of Cisarua, an Afghan refugee-led education centre based in Indonesia. I first came across David’s work through his book Necessary Evil; How to fix finance by saving human rights which was seminal in advancing my appreciation and the practical application of human rights in a corporate context. David’s work - beyond his scholarly and teaching duties, means he’s written over ten books on topics as broad as international human rights, law, politics, philosophy, economics and the relationship between freedom and responsibility.

I first came across David’s work in late 2021 and was immediately captured by both the practicality of his wisdom and the robustness of his expertise. His work was so influential it landed me in a lot of hot water, which to me indicates he is clearly onto the awkward and uncomfortable reality human rights responsibilities ask of corporates. Since then though David has published two really terrific books, The Liberty Paradox and in recent weeks has released In a Rain of Dust; Death, Deceit and the lawyer who busted big asbestos. I was captured by both and for different reasons, but like Necessary Evil, David’s prose and style blends technical complexity with relatable everyday circumstance.

This chat covers a lot of ground across those three books, but comes to identify and reflect the challenge organisations and individuals face in needing to account for affected and harmed people through the power of their decisions making. In a rain of dust is a story about malpractice and negligence that caused the deaths of thousands of vulnerable and impoverished people across continents, but it reflects the bankruptcy of corporate leadership fixated on profiteering, on the legacy of injustice, but also how crime never pays - in this case how powerful corporate elites and their business were shamed and now portrayed as merchants of death and destruction because of their dismissal of other humans ‘over there.’

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