Studies in International Law: Transnational Corporations and Human Rights (Hardcover)

This volume offers a systematic overview of the different tools through which the human rights accountability of transnational corporations may be improved. The book first examines the responsibility of States in controlling transnational corporations, emphasizing both the limits imposed by the protection of the rights of investors under investment treaties and the potential of the US Alien Tort Claims Act and other similar extra-territorial legislations.

It then turns to self-regulation by transnational corporations through the use of codes of conduct or international framework agreements. The book also discusses recent attempts at the global level to improve the human rights accountability of corporations by the direct imposition on corporations of obligations under international law.

Finally, it considers the use of public procurement policies or of conditions in the lending policies of multilateral lending institutions to provide incentive for transnational corporations to behave ethically. Altogether, the book offers a rigorous legal analysis of these different developments and critically appraises their potential.