Non-State Actors and Human Rights: Corporate Responsibility and the Attempts to Formalize the Role of Corporations as Participants in the International Legal System
PARTICIPANTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL SYSTEM. MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES ON NON-STATE ACTORS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW, pp. 268-283, J. D’Aspremont, ed., Routledge, May 2011
14 Pages Posted: 29 Jan 2012
Date Written: January 27, 2011
Abstract
To date, multinational corporations have had no direct human rights obligations under international law. Nonetheless, international lawyers can no longer ignore the increasing role of non-state actors in international society. This chapter first explores the factual and normative dimensions of international corporation responsibility for human rights violations. It then analyzes existing mechanisms and new proposals for enhancing the accountability of transnational corporations, either through the use of ‘soft’ instruments, domestic jurisdictional mechanisms or through the extension of international individual criminal responsibility to corporations. This chapter will argue that to date no attempt to take on direct international corporate responsibility has led to the inclusion of corporations as formal participants in the international legal system.
Keywords: human rights, non-state actors, participants, corporate responsibility
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