Human rights abuses by corporations must stop

The International Criminal Court Statute should be extended to allow corporations, as well as people and states, to be prosecuted for corporate human rights abuse, a University of Liverpool report recommends.

At present, the human rights obligations of non-state entities are bound only by voluntary codes of conduct, leaving little room for redress for those affected by the activity of corporations.

"Violations of human rights by corporations continue despite voluntary mechanisms and codes of conduct, and are often committed with impunity," said Dr Khoury of the University of Liverpool's School of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology. "At what point will the international community take responsibility and implement mechanisms that will adequately address corporate harms?"

Her colleague professor David Whyte added: "There is growing demand for new human rights mechanisms that can meaningfully hold corporations to account for the violations they commit. [The report] seeks to contribute to the demand now being made by some of the Global South countries for effective new mechanisms that hold corporations to account for human rights violations."

Dr Khoury and professor Whyte organised a series of focus groups at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) made up of senior judges, lawyers and members from the registrar's office, to assess the issue.

Difficulty in determining responsibility in complex transnational corporations was identified as a key problem, as was the power of the corporate lobby as a barrier to action. Concern was also raised that imposing binding legal norms may cause economic damage in emerging economies.

"Governments have demonstrated that they are willing and able to put in to place complex trade agreements that protect corporations," continued Dr Khoury. "The relative ease with which corporations elude responsibility for violations of human rights is scandalous; and it is unacceptable that states shy away from adopting binding corporate accountability mechanisms that put human dignity before corporate power."

Khoury and Whyte's report identified a number of possible remedies, including a reorganisation of the ECtHR to create a section engaging specialist judges in the assessment of human rights abuses by non-state entities, as well as the extension of the Rome Statute in the International Criminal Court.

The report also suggested utilising specialised permanent tribunals at regional level, alongside national mechanisms overseen by regional human rights commissioners.

In addition, a corporate human rights chamber could be established at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

"The UN's adoption of two resolutions aiming towards legally binding rules to regulate the activities of corporations with respect to human rights is an encouraging turn of events - one that will hopefully finally deliver upon the implementation of enforceable rules and supervisory mechanisms that will address violations of human rights by corporations," added Dr Khoury.

The profession has welcomed the recommendations, with a senior partner of Leigh Day, Martyn Day, saying it would be a major step forward for victims if the proposal was ever to become a reality.

"Too often the victims of human rights violations by multi-national corporations are left without recourse to justice. There are far too few routes available for victims to get justice. This would be an excellent addition to that panoply," he said.

John van der Luit-Drummond is legal reporter for Solicitors Journal