The Litigation Landscape of Business and Human Rights

Abstract

Robert McCorquodale outlines the wider business and human rights context of human rights litigation against multinationals and explains key concepts that arise. He highlights differences between civil law and common law systems in terms of sources of law and procedures, and between criminal and civil claims against multinationals. The concepts of separation of corporate identity and the tort law duty of care developed in the English cases are considered. The principles of European law on jurisdiction over corporations and choice of law are explained. The relevance, in multinational human rights cases, of public international law and sovereignty issues in forum non conveniens disputes, claims in the United States under the Alien Tort Statute, and by direct application in States such as Canada and the Netherlands, is discussed. The important contextual backdrop of developments such as the United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGPs), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines and other international standards is also highlighted.