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Corporate Human Rights Violations: A Case for Extraterritorial Regulation

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Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics

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Abstract

This chapter highlights why the current territorial model of regulating corporate human rights abuses is inadequate to deal effectively with modern violations of human rights by companies that operate at a transnational level. It is contended that a case can be made for extraterritorial regulation without doing too much violence to the well-established principles of international law. Therefore, states, especially the home states of multinationals, should show the required political will in introducing suitable extraterritorial measures to enhance corporate compliance with their human rights responsibilities. By doing so, they would be fulfilling a collective goal agreed upon by the international community.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc. 945 F. Supp. 625 (SDNY 1996).

  2. 2.

    Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. 1998 US Dist. LEXIS 23064.

  3. 3.

    Abdullahi v. Pfizer 2002 US Dist. LEXIS 17436 (SDNY, 2002).

  4. 4.

    The Presbyterian Church of Sudan v. Talisman Energy 244 F. Supp. 2d 289 (SDNY, 2003).

  5. 5.

    Abrams v. Societe Nationale Des Chemins de fer Français 175 F. Supp. 2d 423 (EDNY, 2001); Bodner v. Banque Paribas 114 F. Supp. 2d 117 (2000); In re Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation 105 F. Supp. 2d 139 (EDNY, 2000).

  6. 6.

    In re South African Apartheid Litigation 2004 US Dist. LEXIS 23944; Khulumani v. Barclay Nat. Bank Ltd., 504 F. 3d 254 (2007).

  7. 7.

    Doe v. Unocal 963 F. Supp. 880 (CD Cal., 1997).

  8. 8.

    Estate of Himoud Saed Atban et al v Blackwater, 611 F. Supp. 2d 1 (DDC, 2009); In re Xe Services Alien Tort Litigation, 665 F. Supp. 2d 569 (2009).

  9. 9.

    Connelly v RTZ Corp plc (1997) 4 All ER 335 (HL); Lubbe v. Cape plc (2000) 1 WLR 1545 (HL).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China

    Dr. Surya Deva

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  1. Dr. Surya Deva
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Correspondence to Surya Deva .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Peter Löscher-Stiftungslehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsethik, Technische Universität München, München, Germany

    Christoph Luetge

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Deva, S. (2013). Corporate Human Rights Violations: A Case for Extraterritorial Regulation. In: Luetge, C. (eds) Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1494-6_62

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1494-6_62

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-1493-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-1494-6

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