Accountability, international business operations and the law : providing justice for corporate human rights violations in global value chains / edited by L. F. H. Enneking, Ivo Giesen, A. L. M. Schaap, Cedric Ryngaert, François Kristen, and Lucas Roorda.

Part 1 General perspectives |
Chapter 1 Introduction |
Chapter 2 Whose Responsibilities? The Responsibility of the ‘Business Enterprise’ to Respect Human Rights |
Chapter 3 National Contact Points under OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises: Institutional Diversity Affecting Assessments of the Delivery of Access to Remedy |
Chapter 4 Unpacking Accountability in Business and Human Rights: The Multinational Enterprise, the State, and the International Community |
Part 2 Accountability through international law mechanisms |
Chapter 5 The Effectiveness of International Arbitration to Provide Remedy for Business-Related Human Rights Abuses |
Chapter 6 Justice without Borders: Models of Cross-Border Legal Cooperation and What They can Teach us |
Chapter 7 Ignorantia facti excusat? – The Viability of Due Diligence as a Model to Establish International Criminal Accountability for Corporate Actors Purchasing Natural Resources from Conflict Zones |
Part 3 Accountability through domestic public law mechanisms |
Chapter 8 From ‘Too Big to be Governed’ to ‘Not Too Big to be Responsible’? |
Chapter 9 Holding Businessmen Criminally Liable for International Crimes: Lessons from the Netherlands on How to Address Remote Involvement |
Chapter 10 Legally Binding Duties for Corporations under Domestic Criminal Law Not to Commit Modern Slavery |
Part 4 Accountability through domestic private law mechanisms |
Chapter 11 Limited Liability and Separate Corporate Personality in Multinational Corporate Groups: Conceptual Flaws, Accountability Gaps and the Case for Profit-Risk Liability |
Chapter 12 The Swiss Federal Initiative on Responsible Business – From Responsibility to Liability |
Chapter 13 The Mismatch between Human Rights Policies and Contract Law: Improving Contractual Mechanisms to Advance Human Rights Compliance in Supply Chains |
Part 5 Conclusion |
Chapter 14 Accountability, International Business Operations and The Law: The Way Forward |

A consensus has emerged that corporations have societal and environmental responsibilities when operating transnationally. However, how exactly corporations can be held legally accountable for their transgressions, if at all, is less clear. This volume inquires how regulatory tools stemming from international law, public law, and private law may or may not be used for transnational corporate accountability purposes. Attention is devoted to applicable standards of liability, institutional and jurisdictional issues, and practical challenges, with a focus on ways to improve the existing legal status quo. In addition, there is consideration of the extent to which non-legal regulatory instruments may complement or provide more viable alternatives to these legal mechanisms. The book combines legal doctrinal approaches with comparative, interdisciplinary, and policy insights with the dual aim of furthering the legal scholarly debate on these issues and enabling higher quality decision-making by policymakers seeking to implement regulatory measures that enhance corporate accountability in this context. Through its study of contemporary developments in legislation and case law, it provides a timely and important contribution to the scholarly and sociopolitical debate in the faste volving field of international corporate social responsibility and accountability.