Beyond the 100 Acre Wood: In which International Human Rights Law Finds New Ways to Tame Global Corporate Power

Abstract

States and corporations are being forced out of their comfort zones. A consensus is building among international human rights courts and committees that states can and will be held accountable for overseas human rights abuses by corporations domiciled in their respective territories. The authors suggest that this development is rooted in a transition from a territory-based to a subject-based approach to human rights obligations that de-centres international human rights law from state territory. In this article, they construct a conceptual framework for understanding how and why this is happening and articulate what are and will be the consequences for the theory and practice of international human rights law.

Keywords: Human rights and business, extra-territorial obligations, international law, Winnie-the-Pooh

JEL Classification: K10, K30