scholarly journals The UNGPs on Business and Human Rights and the Greening of Human Rights Litigation: Fishing in Fragmented Waters?

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10516
Author(s):  
Liliana Lizarazo-Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Effective Remedy ◽  
Mother Earth ◽  
Multiple Obstacles

This article is written around the time a Dutch court ordered the corporate group Shell to cut its carbon emissions by 2030. The aim of the article is to contribute to the conceptualisation of the phenomenon this judgement unveils in terms of greening human rights litigation supported by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). It addresses, firstly, how claiming the protection of the Earth before courts is occurring in a highly fragmented legal, economic and social context as a way to overcome the multiple obstacles flagged by the literature on the UNGPs. Secondly, it assesses how human rights litigation seeking global justice has evolved in waves with common trends, such as activism from social actors and courts that rely on arguments based on progressive soft law. Thirdly, it identifies two trends in the current wave of green litigation: the anthropocentric perspective that claims the protection of the Earth in the public interest and the ecocentric perspective that claims autonomous rights for Mother Earth. Finally, the article flags some gaps in this third wave of human rights litigation, particularly the risk of disregarding the third pillar of the UNGPs: access to an effective remedy for marginalised communities that are not aware of these ongoing developments.

Business and Human Rights – Recent Trends in Germany

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Marlen Vesper-Gräske
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
The Public ◽  
Legislative Action ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Corporate Social

There is an undeniable, growing trend in the current Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) discussions: the responsibility of corporations to abide by and to protect human rights. This discussion includes potential criminal liability for corporations as well as their management for human rights violations. This article will survey the legal status quo of corporate responsibility in the context of human rights protection in Germany. It will then outline two drafts of legislation: a first draft leaked to the press in February 2019 that did not result in further legislative action, and a second draft recently leaked to the public that included key points for such a legislation to become the new German Human Rights Supply Chain Due Diligence Law.

Key points for supporting and accompanying women victims and survivors of human trafficking for sexual exploitation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Itziar Gandarias Goikoetxea ◽  
Oihane Urrutikoetxea Lekanda ◽  
Miguel Ángel Navarro Lashayas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Women Victims ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Gender Violence ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core ◽  
Key Points

Trafficking for sexual exploitation is a complex, highly changeable phenomenon that needs to be tackled on a multi-faceted, inter-disciplinary basis by different social actors including social organisations, police forces and public institutions, because it entails not just gender violence but also a web of other serious breaches of human rights. This briefing on “Key points for supporting and accompanying women victims and survivors of human trafficking for sexual exploitation” seeks to provide guidelines for specialists at social organisations and for technical staff at public administrations and institutions who work to prevent, deal with and care for victims. It begins by giving an outline of the characteristics of women classed as victims of trafficking dealt with in the Historical Territory of Bizkaia between 2015 and 2017. It goes on to describe the gaps and needs detected among specialists at social organisations. Finally, it provides recommendations that highlight the importance of making the needs of women the core concern, avoiding re-victimisation and enhancing coordination and networking between social organisations and the public institutions involved.

Menschenrechte und transnationale Unternehmen

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Brune
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Good Position ◽  
Political Actor ◽  
The Public ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Transnational Companies ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Transnationale Unternehmen

What is the responsibility of corporations in terms of human rights? This question is of concern to academia, the public and also currently to businesses. The UN Framework for Business and Human Rights suggests that companies should respect human rights as much as possible in their business activities, while states are obliged to protect human rights. In practice, this theoretical division of labour leads to problems, in particular, in areas where institutional protection of human rights is not guaranteed, i.e. states do not fulfil their protection obligations. At the same time, due to globalisation-related developments, transnational companies are in a good position to negotiate with states, which makes them a kind of political actor. If these companies operate in contexts where human rights are not institutionally protected, does their responsibility go beyond respecting human rights?

scholarly journals Virtue Ethics and Natural Law Responses to Human Rights Quandaries in Business

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejo José G SISON
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Practical Wisdom ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Public ◽  
Normative Force ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Law And Ethics

AbstractThis article is motivated by certain issues for which, in current Business and Human Rights (BHR) discourse, largely framed in terms of the Ruggie reports, no satisfactory solutions have been found to date. These quandaries refer to (a) foundational matters: the link between human rights law and ethics; (b) normative force: the obligatoriness of human rights claims on corporations; and (c) scope and content of human rights claims on corporations. Turning to the virtue ethics and natural law (VENL) tradition, we encounter the following possible responses: (a) positive laws, such as those concerning human rights, ultimately require a basis in natural law; (b) although the public use of the coercive force of law belongs to the state alone, its private use by non-state actors such as individuals and corporations may be legitimate in some cases; and (c) practical wisdom is necessary in the proper interpretation and implementation of human rights claims on corporations, taking into account relevant contingencies. The blending of BHR discourse with the VENL tradition is best captured in modern Catholic Social Teaching (CST). Although historically CST has adopted the VENL language, engagement with social issues in the modern world has enabled it to reach an understanding with rights theory as well, particularly in connection with business and the economy.

Waving Not Drowning: Kiobel Outside the United States

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 846-851 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert McCorquodale
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Courts ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
The World ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Effective Remedy ◽  
Judicial Remedies

Access to an effective remedy is part of the third pillar of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Guiding Principles). It should require states to provide access to judicial remedies for human rights violations, even those that have occurred outside the territory of the state by a corporation domiciled in that state, especially where claimants “cannot access [their] home State courts regardless of the merits of the claim.” While the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. may seem to overwhelm or even drown some of the expectations of such remedies within the United States, the case law in the rest of the world is unlikely to be greatly affected by the ruling due to the jurisdictional and legal system foundations of other states. This article will examine the main case law and judicial remedies sought across the world, with a special emphasis on Europe, where the majority of large non-U.S. transnational corporations have their headquarters.

scholarly journals Retrospective Bankruptcy Legislation In The Practice Of The European Court Of Human Rights And Constitutional Court Of Ukraine

2019 ◽  
pp. 58-65
Author(s):  
R.B. Sabodash
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
The Public ◽  
Procedural Law ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Degree Of Certainty ◽  
Sufficient Degree ◽  
Effective Remedy

The paper focuses on the debtor’s contract awarded into a suspicious bankruptcy period. Special attention is paid to retrospective bankruptcy legislation according to which the debtor’s contracts may be declared invalid. The article deals with the practice of the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, the European Court of Human Rights. The European Court of Human Rights in the case «James and Others v. The United Kingdom» stated that the fairness of a system of law governing the contractual or property rights of private parties is a matter of public concern and therefore legislative measures intended to bring about such fairness are capable of being «in the public interest», even if they involve the compulsory transfer of property from one individual to another. Special attention is paid to cases “Melnyk v. Ukraine” in which the European Court of Human Rights requires retrospective civil legislation is not expressly prohibited by the provisions of the Convention and in certain circumstances may be justified. Therefore, the Court considers that the issue of an effective remedy is concerned, the remedy in question must already exist with a sufficient degree of certainty. The retroactive application of civil procedural law would undermine the principle of legal certainty and would be contrary to the rule of law when it deprives a person of access to a remedy which is deemed to be effective for the purposes of Article 35 § 1 of the Convention. The issue of this paper is to show that the aim of the legislation could not have been achieved without retrospection and the author is accordingly satisfied that a reasonable degree of proportionality exists between the means employed and the aim sought to be achieved because each party has access to effective remedies.

scholarly journals International Protection of Human Rights and the Activity of Transnational Corporations.

2020 ◽  
pp. 54-65
Author(s):  
A. A. Sinyavskiy
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Business Activity ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
International Human ◽  
Effective Remedy

INTRODUCTION. This study analyzes available remedies for victims who have suffered harm from business activity of transnational corporations. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of available remedies for the protection human rights of individuals from adverse impacts of the business activity of TNCs. To achieve the goal, it is necessary to fulfill the following tasks: to consider the obligations of TNCs in modern international law, the role of states in the protecting human rights against the business activities of TNCs, examine the content of the right to an effective remedy, and characterize the existing remedies for the individuals.MATERIALS AND METHODS. During the research the latest theoretical studies of leading Western scholars was analyzed, as well as the regulatory documents, recommendations and reports of the human rights treaty bodies, international human rights treaties and extensive court practice of the ECHR. For this study formal logical, general scientifi , comparative legal and private scientific methods has been applied. RESEARCH RESULTS. In recent years, the importance of soft law in the field of international business and human rights has been increasingly strengthened. The UN Guiding principles on Business and Human Rights have become the basis for a draft legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations. It should be noted that the latest innovations in the draft related to the introduction of environmental rehabilitation as one of the mandatory forms of redress. Indeed, when considering mass violations of human rights by transnational corporations, we oft n encounter with serious damage to the environment, as a result of which environmental rights are violated. Increasing cases of such violations have led to the need to improve international and domestic remedies.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The study concluded that a remedy would be effective if it would be affordable, acceptable, adequate and timely. An effective remedy against the activities of TNCs should provide an adequate compensation or the leveling of the damage caused and bring TNCs to account for human rights violations in order to ensure such compensation. In turn, access to remedies consists of two interrelated elements: the existence of a grievance mechanism that provides a redress for business-related damage and the availability to the mechanism by aff cted persons. Access to remedies should be provided without discrimination on any of the prohibited grounds and should take into account the situation of vulnerable groups. The approach to the calculation of compensation or the choice of remedy should be individualized, taking into account the social and legal status of the victim.

scholarly journals The ‘Court of Public Opinion:’ Public Perceptions of Business Involvement in Human Rights Violations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Amengual ◽  
Rita Mota ◽  
Alex Rustler
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Public Pressure ◽  
Type Of Abuse ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Public Judge

Public pressure is essential for providing multinational enterprises (MNEs) with motivation to follow the standards of human rights conduct set in soft law instruments, such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. But how does the public judge MNE involvement in human rights violations? We empirically answer this question drawing on an original survey of American adults. We asked respondents to judge over 12,000 randomly generated scenarios in which MNEs may be considered to have been involved in human rights violations. Our findings reveal substantial gaps between public judgments and the standards set in soft law and the normative literature. We identify the attributes of episodes of human rights violations involving MNEs that influence public judgments, including the relationship between the MNE and the perpetrator, the practice of due diligence, and the type of abuse. These results provide insights as to when we might expect public pressure to drive MNE compliance with soft law instruments, and they direct attention to specific standards that will likely require stronger, ‘hard’ law approaches or broader efforts to shift the public’s view.

scholarly journals Commentary on Part 3: International political and economic structures

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-52
Author(s):  
Colin Farrelly
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Common Ownership ◽  
Aging World

Mathias Risse’s On Global Justice is a unique and important contribution to the growing literature on global justice. Risse’s approach to a variety of topics, ranging from domestic justice and common ownership of the earth, to immigration, human rights, climate change, and labour rights, is one that conceives of global justice as a philosophical problem. In this commentary I focus on a number of reservations I have about approaching global justice as a philosophical rather than an inherently practical problem. To his credit Risse does acknowledge at various stages of the book that a good deal of the applied terrain he ventures into presupposes complex and contentious empirical assumptions. A greater emphasis on those points would, I believe, helpfully reveal the shortcomings of tackling intellectual property rights by appealing to Hugo Grotius’s stance on the ownership of seas, or the shortcomings of tackling health by invoking the language of human rights without acknowledging and addressing the constraints and challenges of promoting health in an aging world.

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