Corporations should be held liable in Europe for human rights abuses and environmental damage incurred outside the EU, according to a new legal study presented by a civil society network in the European Parliament on 29 May.
The study, unveiled by the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ), recommends a set of policy proposals aimed at making companies based in Europe legally responsible for abuses committed by subsidiaries or subcontractors abroad.
In today's globalised world, it is developing countries that all too often carry the burden of these ill-treatments as they hope to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) by relaxing social norms.
"Host states competing to attract FDI from companies are unable or unwilling to protect their populations," said Professor Olivier de Schutter, a human rights specialist at the University of Leuven and UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. "What's more, home states of these corporations are mostly reluctant to provide remedies to victims or to impose human rights obligations on parent companies to control their international operations," he added.
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