Access to Justice for Victims of Corporate-Related Human Rights Abuse an Echternach-Procession?
| Published date | 01 September 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934411503300301 |
| Date | 01 September 2015 |
| Author | Nicola Jägers |
| Subject Matter | Part A: Column |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human Ri ghts, Vol. 33/3, 269–273, 2015.
© Netherlands I nstitute of Human Rig hts (SIM), Printed in the Net herlands. 269
PART A : COL UMN
ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS
OF CORPORATE-RELATED
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE
AN ECHTERNACHPROCESSION?
N J*
e summer of 2015 saw several noteworthy developments at the national and
international level in the endur ing quest for greater accountability for corporat ions
involved in human rights abuse. In July, the rst meeting was held of the UN Open-
Ended Intergovernmental Working Group with the ma ndate to elaborate a legally
binding instru ment on transnational corporations wit h respect to human rights. e UN
Human Rights Cou ncil (HRC) established this Working Group following the adoption
of resolution 26/9 the year before.
1
e decision to start work ing on a treaty addressing
business and human rig hts is the result of growing f rustration and impatience that can
be witnessed wit h the voluntary approach taken in t he UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs)
adopted by the HRC only four years ago.
2
No one will debate the major contribution
the UNGPs have made to the debate on the role of business and human r ights. In an
unprecedented short period of time t he three-pillar framework outl ining the obligations
of States to protect against corporate hu man rights abuse, the responsibilit y of
corporations to respect human r ights, and the need to ensure access to e ective remedy
for victims has become t he lingua franca of all stakeholders. A s professor John Ruggie,
the architect of the U N Framework, has put it: the UNGPs have become rmly embedded
in the ‘regulatory ecosy stem for business and human rights’.
3
Bearing in mind earlier
attempts to regulate the cor porate impact on human rights, thi s is no mean achievement.
Nevertheless, th is has not silenced the call for a binding approach. e corporate
responsibility to respect a s laid down in the UNGPs is not a legally bind ing concept.
* Nicola Jägers is a member of the E xecutive Board of the Netherla nds Quarterly of Human Right s,
professor of internat ional human right s law at Tilburg University, the Net herlands, and a
Commissioner at t he Netherlands Inst itute for Human Rights.
1 UNHRC, 26t h Session ‘Elaboration of a n international lega lly binding in strument on trans national
corporations a nd other business enterprises w ith respect to human right s’ (14July 2014) UN Doc
A/HRC/RES/26/9.
2 UNHRC, 17th Ses sion ‘United Nations Guiding P rinciples on Business a nd Human Rights’ (16June
2011) UN Doc A/HRC/RES/17/4.
3 J. Ruggie, Closing Ple nary Remarks, 3rd U N Forum on Business & Huma n Rights (Geneva,
December 3, 2014).
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