Examines when, where, why, and how corporate accountability for past human rights violations in armed conflicts and authoritarian regimes is possible.

This timely book explores the prospect of prosecuting corporations or individuals within the business world for conduct amounting to international crime. The major debates and ensuing challenges are examined, arguing that corporate accountability under international criminal law is crucial in achieving the objectives of international criminal justice.

This book provides a comprehensive account of how non-state actors rely on international criminal law as a tool in the service of progressive political causes. The argument that international criminal law and its institutions serve as an instrument in the hands of a few powerful states, and that its practice is characterized by double standards and selectivity, has received considerable attention. This book, however, focuses on a practice that is informed by this argument. Its focus is on an alternative practice within international criminal law, where non-state actors navigate what critical scholars call a structurally biased legal system, in order to achieve long-term political objectives. Innovatively, the book combines the concerns expressed by Third World Approaches to International Law with strategic litigation that focuses on the accountability of corporations for their complicity in crimes under international law. Analysing this litigation, the book demonstrates that, while it is crucial to highlight the blind spots of the international criminal legal framework, it is also important to take into account the practice of non-state actors engaged in leveraging its emancipatory potential. This original analysis of the implementation and legitimacy of international criminal law will be of interest to a wide range of scholars and activists working in relevant areas of law, politics, criminology and international relations.

Corporate Accountability in the Context of Transitional Justice explores how corporations can be held accountable for their role in past human rights violations when a country is making a transition from conflict or repression to peace and democracy. It breaks new ground in theorizing the linkages between the areas of transitional justice and corporate accountability and analyzing problems frequently arising where the two fields meet in practice, for example where the role of corporations in past human rights violations is examined by truth and reconciliation commissions or in the course of litigation. The book provides an overview of the current trends in law and in legal and political discussion relating to both areas, as well as in-depth analysis of how tools of corporate accountability and transitional justice can complement each other in order to achieve the best outcomes for bringing justice to victims and lasting peace to societies. The authors bring extensive experience from diverse professional backgrounds and jurisdictions to provide the first sustained attempt to address this link. The book will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, policymakers and activists working in the areas of transitional justice; corporate accountability; and business and human rights.

This book explores the intersection of two emergent and vibrant fields of study in international human rights law: transitional justice and corporate accountability for human rights abuses. While both have received significant academic and political attention, the potential links between them remain largely unexplored. This book addresses the normative question of how international human rights law should deal with corporate accountability and violations of economic, social and cultural rights in transitional justice processes. Drawing on the Argentinian transitional justice process, the book outlines the theoretical and practical challenges of including corporate accountability in transitional justice processes through existing mechanisms. Offering specific insights about how to deal with those challenges, it argues that consideration of the role of all actors, and the whole spectrum of human rights violated, is crucial to properly address the root causes of violence and conflict as well as to contribute to a sustainable and positive peace. This interdisciplinary book will be of interest to students and scholars of transitional justice, human rights law, corporate law and international law.

This book considers the efficacy of transitional justice mechanisms in response to corporate human rights abuses. Corporations and other business enterprises often operate in countries affected by conflict or repressive regimes. As such, they may become involved in human rights violations and crimes under international law ‒ either as the main perpetrators or as accomplices by aiding and abetting government actors. Transitional justice mechanisms, such as trials, truth commissions, and reparations, have usually focused on abuses by state authorities or by non-state actors directly connected to the state, such as paramilitary groups. Innovative transitional justice mechanisms have, however, now started to address corporate accountability for human rights abuses and crimes under international law and have attempted to provide redress for victims. This book analyzes this development, assessing how transitional justice can provide remedies for corporate human rights abuses and crimes under international law. Canvassing a broad range of literature relating to international criminal law mechanisms, regional human rights systems, domestic courts, truth and reconciliation commissions, and land restitution programmes, this book evaluates the limitations and potential of each mechanism. Acknowledging the limited extent to which transitional justice has been able to effectively tackle the role of corporations in human rights violations and international crimes, this book nevertheless points the way towards greater engagement with corporate accountability as part of transitional justice. A valuable contribution to the literature on transitional justice and on business and human rights, this book will appeal to scholars, researchers and PhD students in these areas, as well as lawyers and other practitioners working on corporate accountability and transitional justice.

In recent decades, corporations have increasingly accepted that they have obligations to respect the socio-economic rights of individuals whose rights to livelihoods, education, food, health, housing and water are affected by the actions of corporations on a daily basis. Despite this, it is often difficult for victims to bring corporations to court for violations of their socio-economic rights. Domestic constitutional systems provide, at best, fragile and limited protections against adverse corporate activities, while international responses have been lacking in creating obligations and accountability for corporations under socio-economic rights. The urgency of bolstering corporate accountability for socio-economic rights is therefore apparent. In light of this, this book asks whether corporations are required to observe socio-economic rights and if they are accountable for any violations. In doing so, it identifies and analyzes the theoretical foundations and the existing scope of corporate accountability arising from socio-economic rights at both national and international levels. Through careful analysis, Jernej Letnar Černič exposes the stark need for greater clarity in the obligations and accountability of corporations, advocating a normative framework for corporate accountability for socio-economic rights in national legal orders which builds on existing mechanisms.

"Essays in honour of Professor Ruth Lapidoth."--T.p.

Master's Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Politics - Region: Southeastern Europe, grade: 1,6, University of Leipzig (Institut für Politikwissenschaft), language: English, abstract: In this thesis, I examine the effects of transitional justice and Europeanisation on the Republic of Serbia's policy of dealing with the past. The Republic of Serbia has shown – at different times - both refusal and assertion of Europeanisation. Refusal of Europeanisation did not contribute to an honest dealing with the past. While the assertion of Europeanisation accelerated compliance with the demands set out by the European Union, Serbia did comply mostly for reasons of strategy. That is, Serbia emphasized projects of dealing with the past mainly because they guarantee closer ties with the European Union. In this way, the European Union's capacity to shape the Serbian conception of history according to its identity is limited. Therefore, traditional Serbian narratives of its history will remain prevalent. Furthermore, I discuss the merits and shortcomings of the 'regional' approach to transitional justice at the example of the RECOM initiative and explain the political potential this project may have for the post-Yugoslav countries.