Transnational Tort Law

2021 ◽  
pp. 554-574
Author(s):  
Cees van Dam
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Traffic Accidents ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
Tort Law ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
International Regulation ◽  
Domestic Regulation ◽  
Nuclear Damage

This chapter deals with harm caused and suffered across national borders, such as nuclear damage, road and air traffic accidents, defective products, and human rights violations by transnational corporations. First, it explores how supranational, international, and national tort law may respond to such harmful events. This also identifies gaps, such as the lack of international regulation of company behavior when it comes to protecting human rights. Subsequently, this chapter analyzes how soft law instruments are aimed at filling this void and how soft law is translated into binding regional and domestic regulation. This may in turn tort law standards to protect human rights. Finally, this chapter looks in more detail into various aspects of transnational tort law, from the perspective of the hurdles faced by victims and with references to key cases.

The Accountability of Multinational Companies for Human Rights Violations, Regulatory Trends and New Punitive Approaches Across Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-62
Author(s):  
Rossella Sabia
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Multinational Companies ◽  
Financial Disclosure ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
Disclosure Laws ◽  
Global Operations ◽  
Regulatory Trends

This article investigates the emergence of new regulatory trends in the context of human rights accountability - traditionally characterised by soft law and non-binding guidelines -, where in recent times mandatory non-financial disclosure laws have started to impose on multinational companies new legal obligations complemented by sanctions of a different nature and intensity. By comparing three relevant pieces of legislation in the European panorama, this contribution addresses the reasons why also criminal law scholars should pay attention to the evolution of such regulatory framework, as the prospect of punitive mechanisms aimed at holding large companies accountable for human rights violations in their global operations could become, to some extent, less remote.

scholarly journals Should or Must?: Nature of the Obligation of States to Use Trade Instruments for the Advancement of Environmental, Labour, and Other Human Rights

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Powell
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
Harm Principle ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Alien Tort Statute

This article examines whether customs, treaties, and historical facts have caused the ethical human rights obligations of economically powerful states to assume a legal quality. The author argues that the legal quality of these obligations may arise from the global harm principle of international law and human rights obligations found in treaties. As a consequence, states may be held accountable for the human rights violations of transnational corporations. Further, the author examines the possibility of pursuing claims under the U.S. Alien Tort Statute for torts committed in violation of international treaties as another avenue for enforcing human rights obligations.

The Necessity for a Business and Human Rights Treaty

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
David BILCHITZ
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Legal Instrument ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Council

AbstractIn June 2014, the Human Rights Council passed a resolution establishing an inter-governmental working group to discuss a legally binding instrument relating to transnational corporations and other business enterprises. In this article, I outline four arguments for why such an instrument is desirable. Identifying the purpose of such a treaty is crucial in outlining a vision of what it should seek to achieve and in determining its content. The arguments indicate that a treaty is necessary to provide legal solutions to cure serious lacunae and ambiguities in the current framework of international law which have a serious negative impact upon the rights of individuals affected by corporate activities. The emphasis throughout is upon why a binding legal instrument is important, as opposed to softer forms of regulation such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The four arguments in turn provide the resources to respond to objections raised against the treaty and to reject an alternative, more restrictive proposal for a treaty that only addresses ‘gross’ human rights violations.

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