The questions of business involvement in human rights violations in countries facing civil conflict, as well as access to remedy and accountability for these violations have generated a considerable amount of attention from academia and practitioners. While most theoretical efforts on access to remedy and accountability have focused on identifying the obstacles to access to justice, these do not explain the unlikely case of Colombia, where despite all structural obstacles being present (e.g. armed conflict, corruption), the country has positioned itself as a leader in the region in terms of judicialisation and convictions of economic actors for their complicity with grave human rights violations committed in the course of the 50 year internal armed conflict. This thesis is a theory building and theory-testing project that looks for alternative explanations to the outcomes registered in Colombia, focusing on the agents involved in these cases and how the variation in the power of the people (claimants) and the power of businesses (defendants) explains access to justice. This thesis uses the most comprehensive datasets in existence of business involvement in human rights violations (the Corporations and Human Rights Database and the Corporate Accountability and Transitional Justice Database) to present a novel and much needed systematic analysis to identify the factors explaining why and when remedy and accountability is possible. The results of the study suggest that the variations in the power of people and the power of business do offer a plausible alternative explanation to the unlikely case of Colombia. The Colombia data analyzed in this thesis suggests that while an increase in the power of the people (through the support of global actors and political opportunities) is necessary to secure judicialisation and remedy, these results are only possible when they face an economic actor with reduced veto power.

This thesis aims to investigate the process of consulting businesses on human rights through the concept of rationalisation. Corporations have struggled to act in accordance with what is considered responsible business conduct and this has put their legitimacy at risk. To align with the international standards on human rights, corporations have increasingly sought consulting on the topic. Previous research has criticised to what degree human rights can be reconciled with the corporate format and interests. Carrying out a qualitative case study on Human Rights Consulting, this thesis unpacks the process of introducing human rights in the corporation. We find that human rights become rationalised in corporations through referring to the UNGP, concretisation of human rights training and; management tools. At the same time, mapping the corporations serves as a precondition for rationalising human rights in the corporation. This thesis contributes to the theory of rationalisation by displaying how the social actions of consulting on human rights can be understood as expressions of rationalisation.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aberdeen University, 2008. / Title from web page (viewed on June 18, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Arbitration has previously been a dispute resolution method for commercial and investment disputes mostly concerning businesses and states. The recently launched Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration (The Hague Rules) are a universal set of rules for business-related human rights disputes in international arbitration, which offer an additional legal remedy for victims of human rights abuse linked to business activities. This thesis discusses if the legal remedies have been improved and reflects on previous legal remedies in order to analyse a potential improvement provided by the Hague Rules. The history of business-related human rights disputes has been strongly affected by the concept of corporate social responsibility which have contributed to a development of several soft law regulations. At the same time, businesses, states and arbitral tribunals have contributed to gradually include human rights aspects in arbitration. Despite this, the development before the Hague Rules was fragmentary and victims of the business-related human rights abuse were not provided a stable access to legal remedy. Corrupted and impartial domestic courts could in turn lead to the result of victims being completely excluded from access to justice. Through the Hague Rules, victims are provided with an opportunity to raise claims in arbitration, a development that have included human rights aspects in arbitration such as public interest, imbalance of power, expert arbitrators and witness protection. Even if the Hague Rules offer an effective legal remedy for the victims of business-related human rights abuse in many regards, imbalance of power between a well-funded corporation and the victims cannot be solved solely by a soft law instrument. Furthermore, domestic laws and domestic courts might raise issues for the Hague Rules which could also potentially decrease important features of the national adjudication process. Even if the Hague Rules could be improved further, they are still an improvement of legal remedies for victims of human rights abuse linked to business activities and have increased the access to justice.

Thesis (doctoral)--Technische Universität, Dresden, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 345-406).

La tesi esamina questioni relative alla responsabilità delle imprese e all'accesso alla giustizia per vittime di violazioni dei diritti umani, commesse da imprese, per suggerire misure e proposte da inserire in un trattato giuridicamente vincolante in materia di imprese e diritti umani, la cui negoziazione è attualmente in corso sotto l'egida del Consiglio per i Diritti Umani. Conformemente alla Risoluzione 26/9 del Consiglio per i diritti umani, un gruppo di lavoro intergovernativo è stato incaricato di elaborare uno strumento internazionale giuridicamente vincolante per regolamentare, nel diritto internazionale dei diritti umani, le attività delle imprese multinazionali e altre imprese. Ricostruendo il background storico (Capitolo 1) e il percorso che ha condotto all’adozione della Risoluzione 26/9 (Capitolo 2), la tesi analizza alcune delle questioni ancora aperte in materia, partendo dalla responsabilità delle imprese e se queste possiedano personalità giuridica internazionale e di conseguenza se le imprese possono essere considerate duty-bearers nel futuro trattato (Capitolo 3). In secondo luogo, la tesi analizza la questione di come migliorare l'accesso alla giustizia per le vittime di violazioni dei diritti umani e superare ostacoli esistenti (Capitolo 4). Infine, sono proposte alcune alcune misure e modelli di riferimento da considerare nel futuro trattato, al fine di colmare alcune delle lacune ancora esistenti in materia. / The thesis examines key issues relating to the responsibility of business entities and access to justice for victims of business-related human rights violations, to suggest measures and proposals to be incorporated in a prospective legally binding treaty on business and human rights, whose negotiation and drafting is in progress under the aegis of the UN Human Rights Council. Under the terms of Human Rights Council Resolution 26/9, an Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group was mandated to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises. After recalling the historical background (Chapter 1) and the process leading to the adoption of Resolution 26/9 (Chapter 2), the thesis analyses the outstanding issues regarding the responsibility of business enterprises and whether corporations may potentially be considered as duty-bearers in the prospective binding treaty (Chapter 3). The thesis turns to the question about how to overcome existing barriers and improve access to justice and judicial remedies for victims of business-related human rights abuses (Chapter 4). The thesis concludes with measures and models of reference to be considered in the prospective treaty, to close the so called “accountability and governance” gaps.

For over a century, corporations engaged in the extractive industries in Africa have operated without ethical rules. They have been notoriously fingered for rampant environmental, labour, health and human rights violations, including land despoliation, forced displacement, environmental pollution, cultural infringements and, sometimes, deaths. While the responsibility for regulating companies and protecting human and peoples’ rights primarily rests with states, they have often been unable or unwilling to do so effectively. Amidst these persisting challenges, the phenomenal rise of transnational corporations in the global economy have rendered more complex the gaps in global governance by presenting new challenges that make territorial regulation by single countries impracticable. While victims groan, contestations about the human rights obligations of corporations have allowed extractive and other companies to fly below the radar of accountability; thereby, enabling extractive businesses to ride roughshod over communities and the environment. After several United Nations-led initiatives to address the adverse impacts of corporations, they have proven insufficient to hold companies accountable for violations in the extractive sector. This thesis, therefore, is a dispassionate attempt to explore the role of the African regional human rights system as an important complementary level of normative and institutional governance for regulating abusive corporate conduct and advancing human rights accountability in the extractive industries. It adopts an African approach to corporate human rights accountability in critically evaluating the contours of the corporate accountability discourse. It problematises the near-total reliance on inadequate domestic action in host states for regulating powerful corporate conglomerates in this age of globalisation and highlights the limits of extraterritorial regulation by home states in addressing transborder abuses. After a careful assessment, it finds that African human rights norms and regional mechanisms can play a key part in regulating abusive corporate practices and protecting the human rights and environmental wellbeing of resource-rich communities affected by the extractive industries in Africa. / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst - DAAD) / Centre for Human Rights / LLD / Unrestricted

The thesis explores the nature of transnational legalisation by identifying one emerging norm - corporate accountability for human rights violations - and tracing its promotion through three separate pathways of legalisation. At the domestic level, the thesis discusses the jurisprudence of domestic courts that have contemplated assuming extraterritorial jurisdiction over alleged human rights violations of transnational corporations (TNCs) in other states. At the international level, the thesis considers developments in the United Nations (UN), which in 2011 launched a new normative framework to bolster the accountability of TNCs in respect of human rights. At the transnational level, the thesis discusses the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPs), which have been selected as representative of the range of hybrid schemes increasingly developed by government and industry representatives to ameliorate the impact of TNCs on human rights. The thesis also develops a framework with which to analyse these trends by adopting (and further developing) the liberal institutionalist tool of legalisation, which is described in Kenneth Abbott et al's 'The Concept of Legalisation'. This thesis argues that this classic framework can be adapted and reimagined in the context of the transnational legal system, which is characterised by thick configurations of agents working across a multiplicity of issue areas. I suggest that in applying the classic framework in the transnational context, there appears to be an omitted variable - that of implementation, which exists alongside obligation, precision, and delegation. Implementation refers to the specific actions taken by agents to translate legal or law-like principles into practical, workable instructions for courts, governments, companies and other non-state actors to follow. The thesis argues that an increased focus on implementation generally leads to more effective or greater legalisation. The empirical chapters demonstrate that efforts in implementation are often undertaken for the purpose of strengthening one or more other legalisation characteristics in the long run. This suggests that agents will be willing to accept lower levels of obligation, precision and/or delegation if they believe a focus on implementation will help strengthen these characteristics over time.

Globalization and increased growth in international value chains has brought great benefits to developing countries but have at the same time contributed to negative consequences related to human rights violations. Against this background and as a result of increased awareness, companies have been encouraged to take responsibility for their value chain and a framework for due diligence was adopted in 2011 with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The UNGP introduced the first global standard of due diligence and created a non-binding framework for companies to take responsibility and to respect human rights. However, the voluntary aspect of the due diligence process has not had the desired effect as the voluntary approach has had a limited impact on preventing business-related human rights violations. This has been a factor in increasing legislative initiatives around the world, with the aim of establishing clear and binding rules to ensure responsible and sustainable business conduct. The purpose of the study is to examine the EU's legislative initiative on mandatory human rights due diligence through an ideational analysis. The further purpose is to investigate how and what the introduction of a new legislation can imply for the prevention of human rights violations in the value chain and how the accountability can be expressed. The thesis finds that the legislative initiative can be considered to have an overall positive impact to prevent and demand accountability for human rights violations in global value chains.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-03-23T17:04:39Z No. of bitstreams: 1 luizcarlossilvafariajunior.pdf: 1177217 bytes, checksum: d47aa19ce5a96feb3a0d19cbe22ef465 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-03-24T12:36:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 luizcarlossilvafariajunior.pdf: 1177217 bytes, checksum: d47aa19ce5a96feb3a0d19cbe22ef465 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-03-24T12:36:21Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 luizcarlossilvafariajunior.pdf: 1177217 bytes, checksum: d47aa19ce5a96feb3a0d19cbe22ef465 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-24T12:36:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 luizcarlossilvafariajunior.pdf: 1177217 bytes, checksum: d47aa19ce5a96feb3a0d19cbe22ef465 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-28 / Este trabalho tem por objetivo realizar uma análise da Agenda das Nações Unidas na área de Direitos Humanos e Empresas. Para tal, utiliza-se da analogia bíblica da batalha entre Golias e Davi, estando de um lado o capital global na figura das empresas transnacionais e do outro uma aliança de proteção e defesa dos Direitos Humanos, composta por organizações não governamentais, coletivos e movimentos sociais, ativistas e outros atores. A análise pretendida se constrói sob orientação da Teoria Neogramsciana de Relações Internacionais, propondo-se a desenvolver uma perspectiva histórica e crítica aos processos em curso atualmente na ONU na implementação de um marco normativo internacional para responsabilização de empresas transnacionais por violações de Direitos Humanos, quais sejam o Grupo de Trabalho das Nações Unidas sobre Empresas e Direitos Humanos e os fóruns internacionais organizados anualmente para debate da temática, e o Tratado Internacional na área, que teve processo de elaboração deflagrado em junho de 2014 com a aprovação da Resolução 26/9 no Conselho de Direitos Humanos da ONU. / This paper aims to realize an analysis of the United Nations Agenda on Human Rights and Business. With this purpose, it uses the biblical analogy of the battle between Golias and David, standing in one side the global capital, represented by the transnational corporations and, at the other side, a global alliance for human rights defense and protection, composed of NGOs, social collectives and movements, activists and other actors. The intended analysis is built under orientation of the Neogramscian Theory of International Relations, and proposes to develop a historical and critical perspective of the current processes at the UN for the implementation of an international normative mark to have transnational corporations accountable for human rights violations. These processes are the activities of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and the international forums organized annually to debate the theme, and the International Treaty, which had its elaboration process triggered in June 2014 with the approval of the Resolution 26/9 at the UN Human Rights Council.