The Accountability of Multinational Corporations for Human Rights Violations: A Critical Analysis of Select Mechanisms and Their Potential to Protect Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Developing Countries

Abstract

The primary question that this research aims to answer is: how effective are the emergent norms and mechanisms to hold MNCs accountable for human rights violations, especially with regard to accountability for violations of economic, social and cultural rights in developing countries? The research begins by recalling the original basis of human rights and traces it to human suffering. Relying on the works of Hannah Arendt and Anna Grear, it is argued human that rights ought to be understood as intertwined with human embodiment and vulnerability. The research analyses economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) as a sub-species of human rights and discusses the type of obligations they create. By showing that violations of economic, social and cultural rights are violative of human embodiment in addition to other attributes of human well-being, the research argues for the extension of crimes against international law to include ESCR violations. The research discusses several mechanisms of holding multinational corporations accountable for violations of economic, social and cultural rights. By reviewing the the United Nations' Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights (the UN Norms) it is demonstrated that the emergence of human rights as a referential standard for the regulation of corporate conduct is a relatively recent development in the contestation of different corporate regulatory orders; from a shareholder-centric (corporate law) model to a people-centred (human rights) model. The research focuses primarily upon the following mechanisms of corporate control; States’ responsibility to protect human rights, the UN Norms, extraterritorial litigation of human rights and the Doctrine of State Responsibility for Internationally Wrongful Acts. By critically examining these norms and mechanisms to regulate multinational corporations (MNCs), the research evaluates their potential to protect economic, social and cultural rights in developing countries.