Human Rights Litigation against Multinational Companies in France

2021 ◽  
pp. 230-253
Author(s):  
Sandra Cossart ◽  
Lucie Chatelain
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Tort Law ◽  
Foreign Subsidiaries ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Consumer Complaints ◽  
Enforcement Mechanisms ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
Corporate Criminal Liability ◽  
Parent Companies

Sandra Cossart and Lucie Chatelain review strategic human rights and environmental cases against multinationals in France. By reference to actual cases they outline the legal bases, jurisdiction, and procedure for corporate criminal liability for offences overseas. They discuss cases arising from consumer complaints for misrepresentations by multinationals about human rights standards in supply chains. Regarding tort law, they explain the corporate veil and other hurdles and the potential for claims against parent companies and attempts made to utilise French labour law by employees of foreign subsidiaries. They explain the ground-breaking Law on the Duty of Vigilance of parent and instructing companies, the potential for civil liability in the event of failure to comply with the requirements for a vigilance plan, and judicial enforcement mechanisms. They outline procedural barriers to claims against multinationals, including with regard to access to evidence, collective actions, legal standing of NGOs, and costs rules.

Human Rights Litigation against Multinationals in Practice

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Applicable Law ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Global North ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
Parent Companies

This book reviews the current position in this field, which has developed over the past 25 years, designed to hold multinationals to account, legally, for human rights abuses in the Global South. The authors are practising lawyers who have litigated and led prominent cases of legal significance in this field. Although the focus is on the Global North, where most of the cases have been brought—United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, France, Netherlands, and Germany—there is also a chapter on South Africa. The cases cited include claims against parent companies for harm caused by subsidiary operations, claims for corporate complicity in violations perpetrated by States, and claims arising in a supply chain context. Whilst other books have included consideration of the legal aspects of many of the cases, the focus here is on the interrelated strategic and practical, as well as legal, considerations on which viability and prospects of success depend. In addition to questions of jurisdiction, applicable law, and theories of liability, obstacles to justice concerning issues such as access to information, collective actions, witness protection, damages and costs, and funding regimes (including a specific chapter on litigation funding), and issues relating to public pressure and settlement, are discussed. Although most of the authors act for victims, there is a substantial chapter providing the perspectives of business. Since this area of litigation has developed concurrently with, and has formed part of, the rapidly mushrooming field of business and human rights, the contextual relevance of the UNGPs is considered.

Article 46C of the Malabo Protocol: A Contextually Tailored Approach to Corporate Criminal Liability and Its Contours

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-248
Author(s):  
Taygeti Michalakea
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Future ◽  
Tailored Approach ◽  
Corporate Criminal Liability ◽  
Corporate Wrongdoing

This article examines the corporate criminal liability provision of the Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (Malabo Protocol), which is the first to grant an international or regional criminal court jurisdiction over corporations. It analyses the provision in light of the wide substantial jurisdiction of the future criminal law section of the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights, the complementarity provision, the modes of responsibility and demonstrates its strengths and weaknesses. It argues that the corporate criminal liability provision will particularly contribute to a regional quest for justice and accountability against corporate impunity, as it is contextually tailored but also well equipped to address corporate wrongdoing.

Addressing Human Rights Concerns in the Extractive Resource Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa using the Lens of Article 46 (C) of the Malabo Protocol

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 843-878 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oyeniyi Abe ◽  
Ada Ordor
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Departure Point ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Resource Industry ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Corporate Criminal Liability

Abstract In June 2014, the African Union, Heads of States and Government adopted the Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (known in short as the Malabo Protocol). If ratified, the Protocol would expand the jurisdiction of the proposed African Court of Justice and Human Rights to adjudicate matters of corporate criminal liability in Africa. This paper analyses the prospects of advancing corporate respect for human rights and access to judicial remedies by victims of corporate human rights abuse through the lens of Article 46 (C) of the Malabo Protocol. The departure point is that the adoption and ratification of the Protocol would be an important step in preventing or stopping human rights violations by corporate actors in Africa’s extractive resource industry. This position is predicated on the inference that the expanded jurisdiction provided by the Malabo Protocol is consistent with the commitment of African countries to implement Pillar II of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Guiding Principles) on respect for human rights by corporate entities. In addition, the Malabo Protocol’s proposal to adjudicate corporate criminal liability is consistent with Pillar III of the Guiding Principles on the provision of remedies for human rights violations. Creating a regional approach to address corporate criminality is an important African solution to a pressing African problem.

The Place of the African Criminal Court in the Prosecution of Serious Crimes in Africa

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Chernor Jalloh
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Corporate Criminal Liability

In June 2014, the African Union adopted the first treaty that would establish an unprecedented regional court with a combined jurisdiction over criminal, human rights, and general matters. The protocol introduced various innovations by, for instance, advancing expanded definitions of core international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes; providing for corporate criminal liability; and prohibiting the dumping of hazardous waste into the environment. The AU’s new treaty was concluded in the shadow of tensions between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and some African states and raises theoretical, legal, and policy issues with serious implications for regional and international law. This chapter draws on the lessons of international human rights law to explore the likely impact of the new tribunal on the present and future of international criminal law enforcement globally, especially given the recent purported withdrawals of Burundi, The Gambia, and South Africa from the Rome Statute establishing the ICC.

Foreign Direct Liability of Multinational Corporations in the Dutch Legal Order

2021 ◽  
pp. 201-229
Author(s):  
Channa Samkalden
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Civil Liability ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Applicable Law ◽  
Potential Basis ◽  
Corporate Criminal Liability

Channa Samkalden reviews the position in the Netherlands regarding the imposition of liability on multinationals for human rights abuses overseas. She explains the potential basis for, the process, and the advantages of seeking corporate criminal liability under the provisions of the Criminal Code. Regarding civil liability, she outlines the rules on jurisdiction, applicable law and the interplay with the Dutch Code of Civil Procedure, including forum necessitates. She outlines jurisdictional decisions in Milieudefensie v. Shell and Kiobel v. Shell and the principle for establishing foreign direct civil liability on a parent company based on the breach of a tort law duty of care and alternative grounds and the potential relevance of soft law and the European Convention on Human Rights. She outlines the rules on admissibility of claims by representative organisations, collective actions, limitation, assessment of damages, discovery, witness protection, and costs and funding.

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