I Book Review: Corporations and Transnational Human Rights Litigation
| Date | 01 December 2005 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934410502300411 |
| Published date | 01 December 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Part D: DocumentationI Book Review |
I BOOK REVIEWS
Sarah Joseph,
Corporations and Transnational Human Rights Litigation
, Hart
Publishing, Oxford, 2004, 177 p., ISBN: 1-84113-457-0*
The accountability of corporations for human rights violations has received
mounting attention during the last couple of years. NGOs and consumers are
increasingly demanding socially responsible behaviour from corporations. Even
though the idea of obligations for corporations in the field of human rights seems to
be gaining support, the possibilities for holding corporations to account at the
international level are practically non-existent. In her book Sarah Joseph deals with
an avenue that has been increasingly utilised in recent years: the possibility of
holding corporations to account before domestic courts. In many jurisdictions it will
be possible to bring an ‘ordinary’ tort case against a corporation in case of violation
of national laws. However, increasingly, domestic courts are the arena for holding
corporations accountable for violations of international law. Typically, such cases
concern allegations of corporations violating internationally recognised human
rights in a developing State and being sued in the home State of the corporation.
Domestic courts, notably in the United States, now play a crucial role in the field of
corporate accountability, particularly given the fact that international remedies in
this field are lacking.
The main value of Josephs’ topical study is that it provides a useful and thorough
oversight of the main developments in litigation against corporations, and guides us
through this case-law that has seen a true proliferation, making it difficult to keep
track of the issues at stake. Extremely useful is the table of selected cases in the
appendix. The table contains not only the name, reference and stage of a case but
also a synopsis of each case. In only 13 pages the reader is presented with a clear
picture of the complex developments so far. The inherent problem with such a study
is the risk that it becomes outdated very quickly. As Joseph points out ‘none of the
salient cases has yet been decided on the merits [...and several] issues [therefore]
have not yet been comprehensively addressed...’ (p. 20). Every decision taken by a
court in the ongoing litigation can profoundly change the issues discussed in the
book. This problem is partly solved by providing updates on the website of the
publisher. Despite the unavoidable fact that large parts of the book will be outdated
rather rapidly, the author must be complimented for providing a much needed
assessment of the complex developments so far. Joseph argues that ‘the interim
decisions to date give important clues as to the possible extent of modern
transnational corporate human rights liability’ (p. 20). Up to a point I would agree.
However, it should be kept in mind that the litigation discussed in this book is still
very much evolving making it extremely difficult to reach any conclusions at this
stage of the development. Moreover, the influence of domestic case-law on general
international law remains limited.
PART D: DOCUMENTATION
Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Vol. 23/4, 689-706, 2005.
#Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), Printed in the Netherlands. 689
* Nicola Ja
¨gers works as a researcher/lecturer at the Department of International and European Law,
Tilburg University, the Netherlands.
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