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8 - Multinational enterprise, public authority, and public responsibility: the case of Talisman Energy and human rights in Sudan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Stephen J. Kobrin
Affiliation:
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Robert Grosse
Affiliation:
Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona
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Summary

Recognizing that even though states have the primary responsibility to promote, secure the fulfillment of, respect, ensure respect of, and protect human rights, transnational corporations and other business enterprises, as organs of society, are also responsible for promoting and securing the human rights set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

(United Nations Social and Economic Council, 2003, p. 1)

Corporations … are increasingly being asked to step into roles that were once the domain of governments or international bodies such as the United Nations. Defining what is properly expected of a company needs to be more clearly articulated and rigorously debated.

(Jim Buckee, CEO Talisman Energy. Corporate Social Responsibility Group, 2001, p. 5)

In November 2001 a $1billion class-action lawsuit was brought against Talisman Energy, a large Canadian independent oil and gas producer, on behalf of the Presbyterian Church of Sudan and a number of individual plaintiffs. The plaintiffs allege that Talisman violated the human rights of Christian and other non-Muslim minorities in Sudan as part of its oil exploration, development, and production operations in that country. Specifically, the suit accuses Talisman of conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing to clear the land for oil operations (Wichita Global Coalition, 2001; D'Avino, 2002).

Talisman is charged with violating the human rights of Sudanese in Sudan; the alleged actions did not involve American nationals nor did they take place on American territory.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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