Corporate (Non-)Accountability and Human Rights: Approaches from the Regional Human Rights Systems and Prospects for the ASEAN



Khoury, S ORCID: 0000-0002-0029-9802
(2018) Corporate (Non-)Accountability and Human Rights: Approaches from the Regional Human Rights Systems and Prospects for the ASEAN. Asian Journal of Social Science, 46 (4-5). pp. 503-523.

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Abstract

The role of business in violations of human rights has been at the heart of international debates for decades. As early as the 1970s attempts were made at the UN by Global South nations (known as the G-77) to establish internationally-binding mechanisms to address corporate violations of human rights. Ultimately, those attempts were watered down into “codes of conduct”. In the early 1990s, the “Washington Consensus” was used to steer states to deregulate and restructure their economies in a race-to-the-bottom that placed emphasis upon integrating the global economy over human rights and environmental protections. Although corporate violations existed before, it was only at this juncture that many human rights cases were brought into public view. Some litigation was pursued, but it was most often in tort, and sometimes in criminal courts. This article argues that the existing regional human rights courts have bolstered corporate human rights, while at the same time have remained on the sidelines of addressing corporate accountability. The emergent ASEAN human rights system has not yet developed a human rights court. The article suggests that there are key grassroots movements shaping human rights discourses around corporate accountability through the region and that these offer exciting prospects for an alternative approach to addressing corporate accountability through a prospective supervisory mechanism.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: corporate accountability, human rights, European Court of Human Rights, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, ASEAN
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 30 Jan 2019 09:44
Last Modified: 16 Mar 2024 23:23
DOI: 10.1163/15685314-04604007
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3027584