The Bangladesh ready-made garment industry has recently been affected by a number of terrible accidents, with the collapse of the Rana Plaza on 24 April 2013 as the deadliest garment-factory... Show moreThe Bangladesh ready-made garment industry has recently been affected by a number of terrible accidents, with the collapse of the Rana Plaza on 24 April 2013 as the deadliest garment-factory accident ever known. Under the pressure of renewed attention to the role and responsibilities of multinational corporations (MNCs) take responsibility for what happens in those factories, two initiatives have been adopted. These initiatives involve leading brands of European origin and North-American origin. With these initiatives the MNCs claim tostrengthen their corporate social responsibility (CSR) regarding those factories. From a regulatory perspective, they represent cases of transnational private regulation (TPR). Although CSR and TPR have become increasingly popular, these initiatives have been perceived with mixed enthusiasm, since they are adopted in a legal vacuum. Consequently, they raise questions about their legal status, their legitimacy and their implementation and compliance mechanisms. These same questions will be discussed in this article concerning the Bangladesh initiatives, in order to discern if they have the potential to contribute to improvingsafety and working conditions in the Bangladeshi garment industry, or if they are rather forms of window dressing. Show less
García-Muñoz Alhambra, M.A.; Haar, B.P. ter; Kun, A. 2014
SUMMARY: 1. Introduction. – 2. Public Monitoring vs Private Monitoring. – 3. Initiatives for Monitoring Systems by International Organizations. – 3.1. Initiatives by Public Organizations. – 3.1.1.... Show moreSUMMARY: 1. Introduction. – 2. Public Monitoring vs Private Monitoring. – 3. Initiatives for Monitoring Systems by International Organizations. – 3.1. Initiatives by Public Organizations. – 3.1.1. ILO: Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy. – 3.1.2. OECD: Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. – 3.1.3. UN: Global Compact and The Ruggie Framework. – 3.2. ILO Convention 81 Labour Inspection. – 4. Monitoring Systems as Found in Private Initiatives Applied in Practice. – 4.1. CSR Codes of Conduct. – 4.2. International Framework Agreements. – 4.3 Monitoring Initiatives by NGOs. – 4.4. Concluding Remarks on Transnational Private Monitoring Systems. – 5. Discussion of Previous Proposals by Other Scholars. – 6. Transnational Labour Inspection: Our Proposal and Idea. – 7. Conclusions. – 8. References. Show less
This paper explores international criminal law as a way to curtail the currently largely unfettered power of multinational corporations. With yearly turnovers that sometimes exceed the gross... Show moreThis paper explores international criminal law as a way to curtail the currently largely unfettered power of multinational corporations. With yearly turnovers that sometimes exceed the gross national product of states and corresponding political influence, such corporations not only theoretically can, but in the past repeatedly have, created detrimental effects for states and individuals in their sphere of operations. On the other hand, viable international solutions to subject multinational corporations to international rules and obligations comparable to those applicable to states are missing, except for voluntary partnerships like the UN Global Compact introduced by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan or efforts to make human rights obligations applicable to multinational corporations. The paper addresses the possibilities to extend the applicability of international criminal law to legal persons such as corporations. To that end, it shows how often-mentioned conceptual “stumbling blocks” such as establishing a corporation’s criminal intent (mens rea), corporate complicity, and means of punishment for corporations can be overcome, and hghlights the potential international criminal law bears to provide remedies to victims not only to crimes committed by states and individuals but also by multinational corporations. Only in extending the scope of international criminal law to multinational corporations, it is argued, can the former live up to its role not only as a means to punish but also to protect. Show less
