Decentralization and Public-Private Diplomacy in the Business and Human Rights Field

Abstract

This chapter sheds light on the legal developments that came to sideline U.S. courts with respect to achieving remedies for foreign-cubed business & human rights matters. It examines the reality of ever more robust cross-border protections for corporate property and shareholders’ rights versus the retention of a soft and ultimately voluntary approach to corporate responsibilities. In response, there have emerged new external channels for corporate responsibility that — untethered to national systems of corporate governance — can better address the state’s embedded protectiveness over its domestic corporations.

Keywords: corporate governance, business & human rights, human rights, universal jurisdiction, international law