Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Note on the contributors
- Referenced case law
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Disinvestment on the basis of corporate contribution to human rights violations: the case of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund
- 3 Laws, standards or voluntary guidelines?
- 4 Responsibility beyond the law?
- 5 Attribution of responsibility to listed companies
- 6 Responsibility for human rights violations, acts or omissions, within the ‘sphere of influence’ of companies
- 7 Human rights investment filters: a defence
- 8 The moral responsibilities of shareholders: a conceptual map
- 9 Sovereign wealth funds and (un)ethical investment: using ‘due diligence’ to avoid contributing to human rights violations committed by companies in the investment portfolio
- 10 Corporations and criminal complicity
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Attribution of responsibility to listed companies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Note on the contributors
- Referenced case law
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Disinvestment on the basis of corporate contribution to human rights violations: the case of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund
- 3 Laws, standards or voluntary guidelines?
- 4 Responsibility beyond the law?
- 5 Attribution of responsibility to listed companies
- 6 Responsibility for human rights violations, acts or omissions, within the ‘sphere of influence’ of companies
- 7 Human rights investment filters: a defence
- 8 The moral responsibilities of shareholders: a conceptual map
- 9 Sovereign wealth funds and (un)ethical investment: using ‘due diligence’ to avoid contributing to human rights violations committed by companies in the investment portfolio
- 10 Corporations and criminal complicity
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Introduction
In the modern globalized business world of complex corporate structures, violations of human rights and other unethical conduct related to multinational companies normally take place at a level very distant from the listed parent company. This creates several difficulties in analysis of corporate responsibility.
When assessing corporate responsibility from an investor perspective, the general problem concerns the relationship between the listed company in which the investor holds shares and the often very distant level on which the unethical conduct or the unacceptable production takes place. That problem is the reverse of the problem that faces victims of corporate wrongdoings wanting to hold a listed company liable for consequences of unacceptable conduct like violations of human rights. Both problems belong to the overall discussion on corporate social responsibility. The basic difference between discussions of investor divestment due to unethical behaviour, on the one hand, and suits against companies based on the same type of conduct on the other, is the perspective from which the analysis has to be undertaken.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Human Rights, Corporate Complicity and Disinvestment , pp. 79 - 106Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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