Improving Paths to Business Accountability for Human Rights Abuses: A Legal Guide

As part of its project on human rights accountability in the global supply chain the University of Essex Business and Human Rights Project has published a legal guide on business accountability for human rights abuses in supply chains. The purpose of the guide is to identify paths to accountability for human rights abuses in global supply chains by looking beyond the ‘arm’s length transaction’ between certain contractual parties in a special relationship. It aims to provide advocates with an informative and interpretive tool supporting them to push the boundaries of civil liability, for human rights abuses in global supply chains, grounded in existing legal principles. The underlying rationale behind this exercise is an attempt to overcome the disconnect between the law and the economic and social realities prevailing in global production networks.