Московский журнал международного права (Jul 2020)
International Protection of Human Rights and the Activity of Transnational Corporations.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION. This study analyzes available remedies for victims who have suffered harm from business activity of transnational corporations. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of available remedies for the protection human rights of individuals from adverse impacts of the business activity of TNCs. To achieve the goal, it is necessary to fulfill the following tasks: to consider the obligations of TNCs in modern international law, the role of states in the protecting human rights against the business activities of TNCs, examine the content of the right to an effective remedy, and characterize the existing remedies for the individuals.MATERIALS AND METHODS. During the research the latest theoretical studies of leading Western scholars was analyzed, as well as the regulatory documents, recommendations and reports of the human rights treaty bodies, international human rights treaties and extensive court practice of the ECHR. For this study formal logical, general scientifi , comparative legal and private scientific methods has been applied. RESEARCH RESULTS. In recent years, the importance of soft law in the field of international business and human rights has been increasingly strengthened. The UN Guiding principles on Business and Human Rights have become the basis for a draft legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations. It should be noted that the latest innovations in the draft related to the introduction of environmental rehabilitation as one of the mandatory forms of redress. Indeed, when considering mass violations of human rights by transnational corporations, we oft n encounter with serious damage to the environment, as a result of which environmental rights are violated. Increasing cases of such violations have led to the need to improve international and domestic remedies.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The study concluded that a remedy would be effective if it would be affordable, acceptable, adequate and timely. An effective remedy against the activities of TNCs should provide an adequate compensation or the leveling of the damage caused and bring TNCs to account for human rights violations in order to ensure such compensation. In turn, access to remedies consists of two interrelated elements: the existence of a grievance mechanism that provides a redress for business-related damage and the availability to the mechanism by aff cted persons. Access to remedies should be provided without discrimination on any of the prohibited grounds and should take into account the situation of vulnerable groups. The approach to the calculation of compensation or the choice of remedy should be individualized, taking into account the social and legal status of the victim.
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