A consensus has emerged that corporations have societal and environmental responsibilities when operating transnationally. However, how exactly corporations can be held legally accountable for their transgressions, if at all, is less clear. This volume inquires how regulatory tools stemming from international law, public law, and private law may or may not be used for transnational corporate accountability purposes. Attention is devoted to applicable standards of liability, institutional and jurisdictional issues, and practical challenges, with a focus on ways to improve the existing legal status quo. In addition, there is consideration of the extent to which non-legal regulatory instruments may complement or provide more viable alternatives to these legal mechanisms. The book combines legaldoctrinal approaches with comparative, interdisciplinary, and policy insights with the dual aim of furthering the legal scholarly debate on these issues and enabling higher quality decision-making by policymakers seeking to implement regulatory measures that enhance corporate accountability in this context. Through its study of contemporary developments in legislation and case law, it provides a timely and important contribution to the scholarly and sociopolitical debate in the fastevolving field of international corporate social responsibility and accountability.

Business corporations can and do violate human rights all over the world, and they are often not held to account. Emblematic cases and situations such as the state of the Niger Delta and the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory are examples of corporate human rights abuses which are not adequately prevented and remedied. Business and human rights as a field seeks to enhance the accountability of business – companies and businesspeople – in the human rights area, or, to phrase it differently, to bridge the accountability gap. Bridging the accountability gap is to be understood as both setting standards and holding corporations and businesspeople to account if violations occur. Adopting a legal perspective, this book presents the ways in which this dual undertaking has been and could be further carried out in the future, and evaluates the extent to which the various initiatives in the field bridge the corporate accountability gap. It looks at the historical background of the field of business and human rights, and examines salient periods, events and cases. The book then goes on to explore the relevance of international human rights law and international criminal law for global business. International soft law and policy initiatives which have blossomed in recent years are evaluated along with private modes of regulation. The book also examines how domestic law, especially the domestic law of multinational companies’ home countries, can be used to prevent and redress corporate related human rights violations.

The human rights of communities in many resource-rich, weak governance States are adversely affected, not only by the acts of States and their agents, but also by powerful non-State actors. Contemporary phenomena such as globalisation, privatisation and the proliferation of internal armed conflict have all contributed to the increasing public influence of these entities and the correlative decline in State power. This book responds to the persistent challenges stemming from non-State actors linked to extractive industries. In light of the intersecting roles of multinational enterprises and non-State armed groups in this context, these actors are adopted as the primary analytical vehicles. The operations of these entities highlight the practical flaws of existing accountability regimes and permit an exploration of the theoretical challenges that preclude their direct legal regulation at the international level. Drawing insights from discursive democracy, compliance theories and the Pure Theory of Law, the book establishes a conceptual foundation for the creation of binding international obligations addressing non-State actors. Responding to the recent calls for a binding business and human rights treaty at the UN Human Rights Council, and the growing influence of armed non-State actors, the book makes a timely contribution to debates surrounding the direction of future developments in the field of international human rights law.

Human rights have not been a central concern of corporate law. Corporate actors have not been a central concern of international human rights law. This book examines existing and emerging strategies that could conceivably close a global governance gap that places human rights at risk and puts commercial actors in the position of becoming complicit in human rights abuses or implicated in abuses when conducting business in emerging market economies or other complex environments. Corporate codes of conduct, sustainability reporting, and selected multi-stakeholder initiatives are presented as the building blocks of a system of strengthening "soft law" that could solidify to become binding baseline standards for better business practices. It explains the conditions that have given rise to constructive change as well as those methods and mechanisms with promise for ensuring that business enterprises incorporate human rights considerations into business operations. This book explores how capital and consumer markets could provide an additional or alternative form of enforcement to promote responsible business conduct. It provides comparative accounts of the creation of industry sector specific regulatory instruments and governance institutions arising from allegations of corporate complicity in human rights abuses after conflicts with concerned constituencies and affected communities. It considers market-based strategies to bring business practices into alignment with the responsibility to respect human rights and examines how corporate social responsibility initiatives could close the governance gap and how codes of conduct could come to regulate like real rules. It argues that regulation through information is essential to ensure that corporate conduct will be informed by human rights considerations and that business policies and practices will be implemented consistent with respect for human rights.

This timely book explores the prospect of prosecuting corporations or individuals within the business world for conduct amounting to international crime. Joanna Kyriakakis surveys the state of the art in the field, highlighting the case for the international criminal justice project to engage more fully with the role industry can play in atrocity. From the post World War II era to contemporary international criminal courts and tribunals and the activities of domestic criminal justice agencies, this book analyses cases and international law reform efforts aimed at accounting for business involvement in international crimes. The major debates and ensuing challenges are examined, arguing that corporate accountability under international criminal law is crucial in achieving the objectives of international criminal justice. Students, practitioners and academics of international criminal law will find this a beneficial read, particularly through its engagement with the key contemporary debate around the extension of international criminal law to business actors. The exploration of how to address the global governance gap and better account for human rights abuses in transnational corporate activity will also make this an invigorating book for business and human rights scholars.

This well-documented work will appeal to corporate leaders interested in understanding the related practicalities of international corporate liability as well as post-graduate students in international business and international policy studies. Policymakers, academics and researchers interested in a unique perspective on the future of the global corporation as an internationally responsible global citizen will find much to inte rest them in this book.

Business corporations can and do violate human rights all over the world, and they are often not held to account. Emblematic cases and situations such as the state of the Niger Delta and the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory are examples of corporate human rights abuses which are not adequately prevented and remedied. Business and human rights as a field seeks to enhance the accountability of business – companies and businesspeople – in the human rights area, or, to phrase it differently, to bridge the accountability gap. Bridging the accountability gap is to be understood as both setting standards and holding corporations and businesspeople to account if violations occur. Adopting a legal perspective, this book presents the ways in which this dual undertaking has been and could be further carried out in the future, and evaluates the extent to which the various initiatives in the field bridge the corporate accountability gap. It looks at the historical background of the field of business and human rights, and examines salient periods, events and cases. The book then goes on to explore the relevance of international human rights law and international criminal law for global business. International soft law and policy initiatives which have blossomed in recent years are evaluated along with private modes of regulation. The book also examines how domestic law, especially the domestic law of multinational companies’ home countries, can be used to prevent and redress corporate related human rights violations.