Transnational Corporations, Conflict and Human Rights

This book is a major reworking of my article entitled “Transnational Corporations, Natural Resources and Conflict”, International Law Research, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2020, 56 – 71 into a book. This book consists of two parts.

The first part traces the evolution of transnational corporations (TNCs) from the English and Dutch Chartered Trading Companies of the thirteenth century to the eighteenth century to date, and explores the two areas of conflict: (i) TNCs’ exploitation of minerals, petroleum and biogenetic resources of indigenous peoples in developing countries; and (ii) TNCs colluding with repressive governments to pervert political processes within a State, aiding and abetting crimes against humanity and flagrantly violating human rights.

The second part revisits corporate social responsibility, evaluates the efficacy of mechanisms for the control of TNCs whether binding or not, and discusses the criminal liability of TNCs under the Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (the Malabo Protocol). Finally, the feasibility and desirability of an inter­national court with jurisdiction over TNCs are considered.