1st Edition

Corporate Accountability in the Context of Transitional Justice

Edited By Sabine Michalowski Copyright 2013
    280 Pages
    by Routledge

    280 Pages
    by Routledge

    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.

    Introduction 

    Sabine Michalowski 

    Part 1: Transitional Justice and Corporate Accountability: Exploring Current Trends and Potential Linkages 

    1. Linking Transitional Justice and Corporate Accountability 

    Clara Sandoval with Leonardo Filippini and Roberto Vidal 

    2. Toward a Multi-Directional Approach to Corporate Accountability 

    Youseph Farah 

    3. Corporate Complicity for Human Rights Violations: Using Transnational Civil and Criminal Litigation 

    Tara L. Van Ho 

    4. Corporate Accountability in the Framework of the Special Representative on Business and Human Rights 

    Geneviève Paul and Judith Schönsteiner 

    5. Corporations and Redress in Transitional Justice Processes 

    Clara Sandoval and Gill Surfleet 

    6. Legal Options for Addressing Corporate Accountability, Reparations, and Distributive Justice Needs in Times of Transition 

    Nelson Camilo Sánchez 

    7. Advancing the Accountability of Corporations for Their Impact on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: Reflections on the Use of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 

    Sylvain Aubry 

    Part 2: Linking Transitional Justice and Corporate Accountability: Examples and Case Studies 

    8. Corporate Accountability, a Tough Tool for Transitional Justice: A Selective Overview of the South African Experience 

    Charles P. Abrahams 

    9. International Criminal Law and Transnational Businesses: Cases from Argentina and Colombia 

    Wolfgang Kaleck  

    10. Another Brick in the Uruguayan Transition: Financial Complicity 

    Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky 

    11. The Legal Framework for Private Investors in Kosovo: Implications for Environmental Protection in a Transitional Economy 

    David M. Ong 

    12. Transitional States and the Flag of Convenience Fishing Industry 

    Darren Calley 

    Conclusion 

    Sabine Michalowski and Ruben Carranza

    Biography

    Sabine Michalowski is a Professor of Law at the University of Essex. Her research interests include the economic and social dimensions of transitional justice as well as corporate complicity. Her recent publications include articles on corporate complicity and on the link between sovereign debt and transitional justice.

    "The book edited by Sabine Michalowski, Professor of Law at the University of Essex, is a welcome contribution because it addresses a question almost unexplored so far: how can corporations be held accountable for their role in human rights abuses when a country is making a transition from conflict or repression to peace and democracy? The volume deals with this question from both a theoretical and a practical perspective."
    - Damiano de Felice, London School of Economics and Political Science for Human Rights Law Review (vol 14, no 3, September 2014)