Human Rights and Transnational Corporations: Establishing Meaningful International Obligations

AbstractThe claim that corporations have human rights obligations remains contentious and can be fraught with confusion. This article synthesizes existing corporate human rights theory and responds to objections to the idea that transnational corporations (TNCs) have human rights obligations. The argument proceeds in three stages. The first section describes the different forms TNCs take and explains why TNCs are properly understood as moral agents responsible for their policies and practices. The second section reviews and explains different philosophical theories of corporate human rights obligations. The third section articulates and responds to objections to the idea that corporations have human rights obligations. The main conclusion of this article is that there are multiple, compelling and overlapping justifications of corporate human rights obligations.

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SECURING HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FACE OF INTERNATIONAL INTEGRATION

International and Comparative Law Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s0020589310000692 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 125-165 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Israel de Jesús Butler

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

International Law ◽

Regional Level ◽

International Human Rights Law ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

International Human Rights ◽

Governmental Organizations ◽

The Face ◽

International Obligations ◽

Increasing Risk

AbstractThe continuous transfer of authority from the national sphere to inter-governmental organizations gives rise to an increasing risk that States may be mandated by their obligations under these organizations to take measures that are inconsistent with their obligations under International Human Rights Law. Drawing on the approaches of various international, regional and national jurisdictions, this article explores two possible models for restructuring International Law that could ensure that human rights obligations remain effective. The ‘international constitutional’ approach would ensure that human rights are enshrined within the ‘constitutional’ instruments of IGOs, preventing incompatible rules from emerging. The ‘parochial’ approach would ensure that human rights as protected at the national or regional level would take precedence over conflicting international obligations.

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The Politics of International Regime Complexity

Perspectives on Politics ◽

10.1017/s1537592709090033 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 13-24 ◽

Cited By ~ 343

Author(s):

Karen J. Alter ◽

Sophie Meunier

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Intellectual Property ◽

International Cooperation ◽

International Regimes ◽

International Regime ◽

Introductory Essay ◽

Election Monitoring ◽

International Obligations

The increasing density of international regimes has contributed to the proliferation of overlap across agreements, conflicts among international obligations, and confusion regarding what international and bilateral obligations cover an issue. This symposium examines the consequences of this “international regime complexity” for subsequent politics. What analytical insights can be gained by thinking about any single agreement as being embedded in a larger web of international rules and regimes? Karen Alter and Sophie Meunier's introductory essay defines international regime complexity and identifies the mechanisms through which it may influence the politics of international cooperation. Short contributions analyze how international regime complexity affects politics in specific issue areas: trade (Christina Davis), linkages between human rights and trade (Emilie Hafner-Burton), intellectual property (Laurence Helfer), security politics (Stephanie Hofmann), refugee politics (Alexander Betts), and election monitoring (Judith Kelley). Daniel Drezner concludes by arguing that international regime complexity may well benefit the powerful more than others.

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From a Stark Utopia to Everyday Utopias

Volume 61 · 2018 - German Yearbook of International Law ◽

10.3790/gyil.60.1.575 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 575-606

Author(s):

Michelle Staggs Kelsall

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

United Nations ◽

Transnational Corporations ◽

Public Domain ◽

Due Diligence ◽

Karl Polanyi ◽

Business And Human Rights ◽

Human Rights Council ◽

The United Nations ◽

Human Rights Due Diligence

This article considers the emergence of the Business and Human Rights agenda at the United Nations (UN). It argues that the agenda can be seen as an example of the UN Human Rights Council attempting to institutionalise everyday utopias within an emerging global public domain. Utilising the concept of embedded pragmatism and tracing the underlying rationale for the emergence of the agenda to the work of Karl Polanyi, the article argues that the Business and Human Rights agenda seeks to institutionalise human rights due diligence processes within transnational corporations in order to create a pragmatic alternative to the stark utopia of laissez-faire liberal markets. It then provides an analytical account of the implications of human rights due diligence for the modes and techniques business utilises to assess human rights harm. It argues that due to the constraints imposed by the concept of embedded pragmatism and the normative indeterminacy of human rights, the Business and Human Rights agenda risks instituting human rights within the corporation through modes and techniques that maintain human rights as a language of crisis, rather than creating the space for novel, everyday utopias to emerge.

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