Access to Justice in the European Union For Corporate-Related Human Rights Violations: Jurisdictional Issues

Abstract

This paper is part of a broader research study on access to justice in the European Union for third-country victims of corporate-related human rights violations. It addresses the jurisdictional challenges that third-country victims of human rights violations committed by EU-based multi-national companies (MNCs) face in seeking redress in EU Member State courts. Section two analyses the role of international human rights law in private litigations for human rights violations by MNCs, with particular reference to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Section three compares the allocation of jurisdiction in transnational tort litigations against MNCs in the European Union (EU) and the United States. Section four offers an overview of EU Member State rules of jurisdiction governing third-state defendants in cases of corporate-related human rights violations.

Keywords: human rights, business, access to justice, European Union, transnational, multi-national corporation