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Florian Wettstein
Title
Prof. Dr.
Last Name
Wettstein
First name
Florian
Email
florian.wettstein@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 3145
Homepage
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PublicationBeyond Guilty Verdicts: Human Rights Litigation and its Impact on Corporations' Human Rights PoliciesDuring the last years there has been an increasing discussion on the role of business in human rights violations and an increase in human rights litigation against companies. The result of human rights litigation has been rather disillusioning because no corporation has been found guilty and most cases have been dismissed. We argue that it may nevertheless be a useful instrument for the advancement of the business and human rights agenda. We examine the determinants of successful human rights litigation in terms of judicial, educational, and regulatory effects. This article reviews more than forty corporate foreign direct liability cases and their effects on corporate human rights policies and conduct. The review shows that most corporations adjusted their human rights policies and adopted additional measures to cope with human rights issues during or shortly after the legal proceedings. Opening legal channels for human rights litigation may be one way for governments to incentivize firms to respect human rights. These findings have implications for the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as well as on our interpretation of the most recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kiobel v. Shell.Type: journal articleJournal: Journal of Business EthicsVolume: 145Issue: 3
Scopus© Citations 55 -
PublicationSilence as Complicity : Elements of a Corporate Duty to Speak Out against the Violation of Human RightsIncreasingly, global businesses are confronted with the question of complicity in human rights violations committed by abusive host governments. This contribution specifically looks at silent complicity and the way it challenges conventional interpretations of corporate responsibility. Silent complicity implies that corporations have moral obligations that reach beyond the negative realm of doing no harm. Essentially, it implies that corporations have a moral responsibility to help protect human rights by putting pressure on perpetrating host governments involved in human rights abuses. This is a controversial claim, which this contribution proposes to analyze with a view to understanding and determining the underlying conditions that need to be met in order for moral agents to be said to have such responsibilities in the category of the duty to protect human rights.Type: journal articleJournal: Business Ethics QuarterlyVolume: 22Issue: 1DOI: 10.5840/beq20122214
Scopus© Citations 63