Unfinished businesscorporate accountability and ESCRS in transitional justice processes

Abstract

While corporations often develop their activities in territories affected by conflict or authoritarianism, human rights abuses in which companies are involved in such contexts are not usually conceptualised as part of transitional justice programmes. Instead, transitional justice has been traditionally focused only on State-sponsored violence. Similarly, transitional justice programmes have ignored violations of economic, social and cultural rights, largely focusing on breaches of civil and political rights and bodily integrity violations. Given that economic actors, such as multinational corporations, gather more power and strength and the division between State and non-State actors under international law is eroded, transitional justice is being forced to address corporate-related human rights violations. Furthermore, recognising the role of all actors and the whole spectrum of human rights violated in such contexts is crucial to properly address the root causes of violence and conflict, as well as to contribute to sustainable and positive peace. This thesis explores theoretical and practical challenges of including corporate accountability for human rights abuses in transitional justice processes, as well as discussing the suitability of addressing economic, social and cultural rights violations within the existing transitional justice mechanisms. Finally, this work aims to provide a critical assessment on those issues through the lens of a real case study: the Argentinian transitional justice process.