This thesis firstly attempts to provide a theoretical basis for how the complex cases related to corporate misbehaviour in relation to human rights respect should be handled. Secondly, it attempts to critically examine how well the Swedish National Contact Point (SNCP) functionsin relation to its goals through the usage of elite interviews. Thirdly and finally it also explores the interest of concerned stakeholders in finding other non-judicial conflictmanagement mechanisms for cases within the CSR – human rights nexus at other mediation institutions such as the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) and/or the InternationalChamber of Commerce (ICC). The thesis argues that it is possible and advisable to apply Dworkin’s idea of hard cases to the conflictual cases appearing within CSR-human rights nexus in Sweden. It directs criticism towards the usage of opaque social pressure currently applied when hard cases within the CSR-human rights nexus are to be solved. It argues that usage of such pressure both makes it hard to follow up on decisions made and makes it questionable whether victims of human rights abuses related to corporate conduct are provided with effective access to remedy. It suggests that Dworkin’s general principles of equal respect and concern is a least common denominator for the demands placed on conflict management mechanisms within the CSRhuman rights nexus by both relevant soft law instruments and respondents in the elite interviews carried out for the thesis. As a result of the interview survey the thesis draws the conclusion that the SNCP to a major extent seems to have failed in the fulfilment of its goals and the expectations placed upon it as stipulated by the OECD 2000 guidelines. What is more the SNCP seems little equipped to meet the requirements of the 2011 version of the OECD guidelines and the UN Guiding Principles unless some sincere and large scale efforts are made by the Swedish government and other concerned parties in the SNC’s regeneration. The thesis found the interest among concerned stakeholders for alternative conflict management mechanisms at the SCC and the ICC to be generally low. Respondents generally thought that the challenges for such private institutions to procure the confidence of both sides in a conflict would be too difficult for them to overcome.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the governance by the Swedish government of the state-owned enterprises in relation to UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights. In the study the Swedish state’s ownership policy is analyzed together with the Swedish national action plan for business and human rights in relation to article 4 in the UN Guiding Principles.The method used in the study is a critical legal reasoning around the text combined with other external perspectives such as the underpinning values and the context. The conclusion of the study is that the Swedish state’s ownership policy should be interpreted in the light of international law, since there are compelling reasons grounded in previous research that article 4 in the UN Guiding Principles is related to the state’s duty to protect and the requirement of due diligence. The study demonstrates that the Swedish government has taken several steps in relation to the state-owned companies, although it is hard to conclude that these are additional in the meaning of article 4. The requirement in the UN Guiding Principles on state-owned enterprises to perform human rights due diligence and supported by international law is not expressed in the State’s ownership policy. Another conclusion is that the requirements and expectations on state-owned enterprises with regard to human rights are integrated with firm expectations on business opportunities. These requirements and expectations could be characterized as instrumental for the overriding objective of the state-owned enterprises: long-term value generation.

Lo studio si inserisce nel dibattito sul potere delle multinazionali e il rispetto dei diritti umani fondamentali e approfondisce i concetti di responsabilità sociale delle imprese (CSR) e della loro "accountability", inquadrando l'analisi nel contesto più ampio degli investimenti esteri diretti (FDI), con i relativi aspetti economici, tecnologici e sociali, nonché ambientali e politici. Si analizzano le norme internazionali in tema di rispetto dei diritti umani da parte delle aziende, ed i meccanismi legali per rendere le società "accountable", soprattutto in caso di complicità aziendali negli abusi perpetrati dagli Stati, anche attraverso la giurisprudenza dei tribunali penali internazionali e dei tribunali statunitensi. Viene data attenzione al settore della sicurezza, i.e. "Private Military and Security Companies" (PMSCs, interessato da notevole crescita negli ultimi decenni. Le PMSCs, impiegate da parte dei governi che esternalizzano una funzione tipicamente dello stato e da imprese e ONG attive in contesti difficili, hanno operato senza adeguato controllo. Le loro attività sollevano questioni su potenziali abusi dei diritti umani commessi dai propri dipendenti oltre che su violazioni dei diritti del lavoro subite dagli stessi. Le azioni ONU per portare le PMSCs fuori dalla 'zona legale grigia' in cui hanno operato vengono trattate insieme alle iniziative di autoregolamentazione. / The study, given the debate about the increasing power of corporations and the attempts to ensure their respect of fundamental human rights, deepens the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate accountability, framing the analysis within the broader discourse of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), with its economic, technological and social aspects as well as environmental and political issues. International standards in the area of corporations’ human rights obligations are analyzed in addition to legal mechanisms to hold corporations accountable, particularly for corporate complicity in human rights abuses by States, through the jurisprudence of international criminal tribunals and U.S. Courts. Special attention is given to the security sector, i.e. Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs), interested in the last decades by a steady growth. PMSCs, increasingly contracted by governments willing to outsource a typical state function and by companies and NGOs active in difficult contexts, have been operating without proper supervision and accountability. PMSCs activities raise issues concerning potential human rights violations committed by their employees and labour rights abuses their employees might suffer themselves. UN actions aimed at bringing PMSCs out of the legal ‘grey zone’ where they have been operating are tackled alongside with self-regulatory initiatives.