Access to remedy: the United Kingdom experience of MNC tort litigation for human rights violations

2013 ◽  
pp. 378-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Meeran
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Tort Litigation

State Immunity in National and International Law: Three Recent Cases Before the European Court of Human Rights

2002 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 703-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Orakhelashvili
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
International Law ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
State Immunity ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Peremptory Norms

The issue of state immunity in the case of human rights violations has been controversial in the last decade, partly due to the absence of international judicial pronouncements. The bringing of the three cases previously litigated in the United Kingdom and Ireland before the European Court of Human Rights was supposed to reduce this uncertainty. However, decisions of the Court seem to have failed to meet these expectations. The Court has failed to properly examine whether the sources of international law support the scope of state immunity as portrayed in the decisions. Furthermore, the decision on Al-Adsani is deficient in that it fails to respect the difference between sovereign and non-sovereign acts, and the effects of peremptory norms with regard to state immunity.

scholarly journals Morality vs. Legality: European Responses to the Changing Norms of Military Intervention

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-50
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Krakiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Military Intervention ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Security Threats ◽  
Considerable Difficulty ◽  
Normative Framework ◽  
The United Kingdom

This article argues that the diverging European positions on the Iraq intervention reflected distinct approaches to the international normative framework regulating the use of force. New security threats by global terrorist networks as well as calls for intervention in cases of human rights violations have challenged the existing criteria for legitimate military intervention. It identifies two types of positions – legal and moral. Evidence for the validity of this distinction is provided by an examination of the foreign policy lines adopted by Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom. Their contending approaches to the use of force can be expected to cause considerable difficulty in formulating a concerted European response to the changing norms of military intervention.

Perspectives on the Development and Significance of Tort Litigation against Multinational Parent Companies

2021 ◽  
pp. 24-57
Author(s):  
Richard Meeran
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Parent Company ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Forum Non Conveniens ◽  
Tort Litigation ◽  
Concurrent Development ◽  
Parent Companies

Richard Meeran explains the genesis of tort-based multinational human rights litigation in the United Kingdom, including some striking features, events, and judgments in original cases of Connelly v. Rio Tinto, Ngcobo v. Thor Chemical, and Lubbe v. Cape plc cases and their impact on the development of English law relating parent company liability leading to the precedents in the Chandler v. Cape, Vedanta, and Okpabi v. Shell cases. He offers insights on strategic litigation from these and other multinational cases. He outlines the key legal, procedural, and practical barriers to justice for victims, with particular emphasis on forum non conveniens, funding litigation, and the interrelationship of the barriers in deterring victims’ lawyers. He considers the concurrent development and integration of multinational human rights litigation and business and human rights including in the UN Guiding Principles. He outlines the potential for cross-border collaboration between lawyers to pursue cases in multinational host States.

To Discriminate in Order to Fight Discrimination

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolores Morondo Taramundi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
The Other ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
European Court ◽  
Main Technique ◽  
Antidiscrimination Law ◽  
The One ◽  
Paradoxical Results ◽  
Conflicts Of Rights

This chapter analyses arguments regarding conflicts of rights in the field of antidiscrimination law, which is a troublesome and less studied area of the growing literature on conflicts of rights. Through discussion of Ladele and McFarlane v. The United Kingdom, a case before the European Court of Human Rights, the chapter examines how the construction of this kind of controversy in terms of ‘competing rights’ or ‘conflicts of rights’ seems to produce paradoxical results. Assessment of these apparent difficulties leads the discussion in two different directions. On the one hand, some troubles come to light regarding the use of the conflict of rights frame itself in the field of antidiscrimination law, particularly in relation to the main technique (‘balancing of rights’) to solve them. On the other hand, some serious consequences of the conflict of rights frame on the development of the antidiscrimination theory of the ECtHR are unearthed.

Contemporary Developments Relating to the Inviolability of Mission Premises

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan E Falconi Puig
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
National Security ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Domestic Legislation

This chapter addresses some of the controversial issues relating to the inviolability of mission premises. The Yvonne Fletcher incident of 1984 led to debates about the need to upgrade or reform the VCDR in that regard; and the United Kingdom, as a direct consequence of the incident, adopted the ‘Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987’ to be able to adopt unilateral measures to remove premises immunity where threats to national security, to public integrity and/or the need of urban planning exist. Domestic legislation of this kind, however, also provides ground for conflicts with the VCDR. This chapter explores conflicts between property immunity and issues such as access to justice, human rights, and terrorism and examines ways of overcoming such difficulties through mechanisms which safeguard diplomatic privileges and immunity to allow the pursuit of diplomatic functions.

A National Treasure? The Role of Civil Society in Promoting and Enforcing Human Rights in the United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harriet Samuels
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Social And Economic Rights

Abstract The article investigates the negative attitude towards civil society over the last decade in the United Kingdom and the repercussions for human rights. It considers this in the context of the United Kingdom government’s implementation of the policy of austerity. It reflects on the various policy and legal changes, and the impact on the campaigning and advocacy work of civil society organizations, particularly those that work on social and economic rights.

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