Business and Human Rights: How NGO Orientation toward Local Communities Shapes Access to Remedy

Abstract

With respect to human rights, firms historically have incurred little government oversight domestically and internationally resulting in governance gaps. This has resulted in an emphasis and adoption of global governance structures as a mechanism for providing this much needed oversight. However, as we argue here, the emphasis on global governance structures overlooks opportunities for building state capacity and democratization by governing globally and not locally. In what follows, we offer another approach for dealing with the governance gaps of the existing approach to business and human rights and draw from unique empirical evidence to detail how domestic and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operate to check corporate misbehavior. The empirical evidence indicates that NGOs classified as either community- or corporation-focused react differently in terms of shaping remedy solutions. Community focused organizations are more apt to help victims seek judicial and quasi-judicial mechanisms, thereby triggering positive effects to state capacity building and or entrenchment of democratization. Alternatively, corporate-focused NGOs are more likely to seek non-judicial outcomes that rarely result in material benefits for victims. We support our findings with case studies illustrating NGO activism and discerning its important implications for long-term capacity building and democratic institutional strength.