Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T13:43:33.389Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Silence as Complicity: Elements of a Corporate Duty to Speak Out Against the Violation of Human Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Florian Wettstein
Florian Wettstein*
Affiliation:
University of St. Gallen
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Increasingly, global businesses are confronted with the question of complicity in human rights violations committed by abusive host governments. This contribution specifically looks at silent complicity and the way it challenges conventional interpretations of corporate responsibility. Silent complicity implies that corporations have moral obligations that reach beyond the negative realm of doing no harm. Essentially, it implies that corporations have a moral responsibility to help protect human rights by putting pressure on perpetrating host governments involved in human rights abuses. This is a controversial claim, which this contribution proposes to analyze with a view to understanding and determining the underlying conditions that need to be met in order for moral agents to be said to have such responsibilities in the category of the duty to protect human rights.

Keywords

human rightsmultinational corporationssilent complicitycorporate powercorporate responsibility
Type
Special Issue: Human Rights and Business
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 37 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Arnold, D. 2010. “Transnational Corporations and the Duty to Respect Basic Human Rights,” Business Ethics Quarterly volume 20 (3:)371–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avery, C. L. 2000. Business and Human Rights in a Time of Change. (London: Amnesty International UK).Google Scholar
Babade, N. 1995. “Nigerian Activist Saro-Wiwa Sentenced to Hang,” Reuters News(October 31).Google Scholar
Beitz, C. R. 1999. Political Theory and International Relations. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press).Google Scholar
Brenkert, G. G. 2009. “Google, Human Rights, and Moral Compromise,” Journal of Business Ethics volume 85 (4:)453–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, T. 2006. “A Human Rights Approach to Developing Voluntary Codes of Conduct forMultinational Corporations,” Business Ethics Quarterly volume 16 (2:)255–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandler, G. 1999. “Keynote Address: Crafting a Human Rights Agenda for Business,” in Human Rights Standards and the Responsibility of Transnational Corporations,ed.Addo, M. K.3945(The Hague:Kluwer Law International).Google Scholar
Chandler, G. 2000. “Foreword,” in Human Rights—Is It Any of Your Business?, ed. Frankental, P. and House, F. 5 (London:Amnesty International UK and The Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum).Google Scholar
Clapham, A. 2006. Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors. (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clapham, A., and Jerbi, S. 2001. “Categories of Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Abuses,” Hastings International and Comparative Law Review 24: 339–50.Google Scholar
Copp, D. 1997. “Defending the Principle of Alternate Possibilities: Blameworthiness and Moral Responsibility ”Nous 31: 441”56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Copp, D. 2008. “‘ Ought ’ Implies ‘Can’ and the Derivation of the Principle of Alternate Possibilities,” Analysis 68 (1:)67–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cragg, W. 2004. “Human Rights, Globalization and the Modern Stakeholder Corporation ”in Human Rights and the Moral Responsibilities of Corporate and Public Sector Organisations. ed.Campbell, T. and Miller, S.105–28.(Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publisherss).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cragg, W. 2010. “Business and Human Rights: A Principle And Value-Based Analysis ”in The Oxford Handbook of Business Ethics. ed.Brenkert, G.G. and Beauchamp, T.L.267–304(Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutler, A.C. 1999. “Locating ‘Authority’in the Global Political Economy,”International Studies Quarterly 43 (1:)59–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derber, C. 2002.People Before Profit:The New Globalization in an Age of Terror, Big Money, and Economic Crisis(New York: St. Martin's Griffin).Google Scholar
Drucker, P.F. 1993.Concept of the Corporation(New Brunswick, N.J.: London:Transaction Publishers).Google Scholar
Duodu, C. 1995. “The Playwright, the Doctor, the Unionist and their President,”The Observer(November 5): 24.Google Scholar
Ewing, A.P. 2004. “Understanding the Global Compact Human Rights Principles,” in Embedding Human Rights in Business Practice ed. UN Global Compact Office and OHCHR,29–42(New York: UN Global Compact Office). Available online athttp://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issues_doc/human_rights/Resources/embedding.pdf.Google Scholar
Frankental, P., and House, F. eds. 2000. Human Rights—Is It Any of Your Business?(London:Amnesty International UK and The Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum).Google Scholar
Frankfurt, H. 1969. “Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility,”Journal of Philosophy 66:828–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghazi, P. 1995. “Shell Refused to Help Saro-Wiwa Unless Protests Called Off,”The Observer(November 19): 1.Google Scholar
Gosepath, S., 2004. Gleiche Gerechtigkeit: Grundlagen eines liberalen Egalitarismus(Frankfurt a. M.:Suhrkamp).Google Scholar
Hall, R.B. and Biersteker, T.J. 2002.The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance(Cambridge:Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hertz, N. 2001.The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy(The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of DemocracyLondon:William Heinemann).Google Scholar
Hoffman, W.M., and McNulty, R.E. 2009. “International Business, Human Rights, and Moral Complicity: A Call for a Declaration on the Universal Rights and Duties of Business,” Business and Society Review 114(4:)541–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsieh, N. 2009. “Does Global Business Have a Responsibility to Promote Just Institutions?,” Business Ethics Quarterly 19 (2:)251–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Human Rights Watch.1999. The Price of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria's Oil Producing Communities(New York: Human Rights Watch). Available online at http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/nigeria/.Google Scholar
International Council on Human Rights Policy.2002. Beyond Voluntarism: Human Rights and the Developing International Legal Obligations of Companies(Versoix: International Council on Human Rights PolicyGoogle Scholar
Kant, I. 1996.The Metaphysics of Morals trans. Mary Gregor(Cambridge:Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, N. 2000. No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies. (Toronto: Vintage Canada).Google Scholar
Kline, J.M. 2005. Ethics for International Business: Decision-Making in a Global Political Economy.(London; New York: Routledge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kobrin, S.J. 2009. “Private Political Authority and Public Responsibility: Transnational Politics, Transnational Firms and Human Rights,” Business Ethics Quarterly 19 (3:)349–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kutz, C. 2000. Complicity. Ethics and Law for a Collective Age. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, C.J. 2010a. “Microsoft Moves to Help Nonprofits Avoid Piracy-Linked Crackdowns,” New York Times(October 17): 6.Google Scholar
Lukes, S. 1990 “Perspectives on Authority,” in Authority ed.Raz, J.203–17(New York: New York University Press).Google Scholar
Matten, D., and Crane, A., 2005. “Corporate Citizenship: Toward an Extended Theoretical Conceptualization,” Academy of Management Review 30 (1:)166–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Micklethwait, J., and Wooldridge, A. 2003. Complicity. Ethics and Law for a Collective Age.(New York: The Modern Library).Google Scholar
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights 2004. “OHCHR Briefing Paper: The Global Compact and Human Rights: Understanding Sphere of Influence and Complicity,” in Embedding Human Rights in Business Practice ed. UN Global Compact Office and OHCHR,14–26(New York: UN Global Compact Office). Available online at http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issues_doc/human_rights/Resources/embedding.pdf.Google Scholar
Pogge, T. 2002. World Poverty and Human Rights. (Cambridge: Polity Press).Google Scholar
Prest, M. 1995. “Global Heroes, Local Zeroes,”The Observer(November 19):4Google Scholar
Radon, J. 2005. “‘Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil ’ Spells Complicity 2005 (2 Available online at http://www.enewsbuilder.net/ globalcompact/e_article000381758.cfm?x=b11,0,w.Google Scholar
Ramasastry, A. 2002. “Corporate Complicity: From Nuremberg to Rangoon. An Examination of Forced Labor Cases and Their Impact on the Liability of Multinational Corporations,” Berkeley Journal of International Law 20 (1:)91–159.Google Scholar
Ratner, S.R. 2001. “Corporations and Human Rights: A Theory of Legal Responsibility,” The Yale Law Journal 111 (3:)443–545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. 1971. A Theory of Justice Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raz, J. 1990. “Introduction,” in Authority ed.Raz, J.1–19(New York:New York University Press).Google Scholar
Reuters, 1995. “Shell Expresses ‘ Deep Regret ’at Nigerian Hangings,” The Yale Law Journal 111 (3:)443–545.Google Scholar
Rowell, A. 1995. “Environment $#x2014;Trouble Flares in the Delta of Death,”The Guardian(November 8):6Google Scholar
Rowell, A. 1996. Green Backlash: Global Subversion of the Environmental Movement London: Routledge).Google Scholar
Santoro, M.A. 2009. China 2020: How Western Business Can—and Should—Influence Social and Political Change in the Coming Decade Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Santoro, M.A. 2010. “Post-Westphalia and Its Discontents: Business, Globalization, and Human Rights in Political and Moral Perspective,” Business Ethics Quarterly 20 (2:)285–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheffler, S. 2001. Boundaries and Allegiances. Problems of Justiceand Responsibility in Liberal Thought Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Scherer, A.G., and Palazzo, G. 2007. “Toward a Political Conception of Corporate Responsibility: Business and Society Seen from a Habermasian Perspective,” Academy of Management Review 32 (4:)1096–1120CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scherer, A.G.,Palazzo, G., and Baumann, D. 2006“Global Rules and Private Actors: Toward a New Role of the Transnational Corporation in Global Governance,” Business Ethics Quarterly 16 (4:)505–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scherer, A.G.,Palazzo, G., and Matten, G. 2009“Introduction to the Special Issue: Globalization as a Challenge for Business Responsibilities,” Business Ethics Quarterly 19 (3:)327–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shue, H. 1996. Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence, and U.S. Foreign Policy Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press).Google Scholar
Soyinka, W. 1996. Nigeria’s Long Steep, Bloody Slide The New York Times(22 August).Google Scholar
Strange, S. 1996. The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sweeney, J.,and Duodu, C. 1995. Nigeria? Business as Usual with the General, Chaps The Observer(November 5):24.Google Scholar
Tripathi, S. 2005. “International Regulation of Multinational Corporations,” Oxford Development Studies 33 (1:)117–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulrich, P. 2001. Integrative Wirtschaftsethik. Grundlagen einer lebensdienlichen Ökonomie Bern: Haupt).Google Scholar
Ulrich, P. 2008. Integrative Economic Ethics: Foundations of a Civilized Market Economy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations. 2008a. Clarifying the Concepts of “Sphere of Influence” and “Complicity”, Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, John Ruggie. Human Rights Council, Eighth session, A/HRC/8/16, available online at http://www.reports-and-materials.org/Ruggie-companion-report-15-May-2008.pdf.Google Scholar
United Nations. 2008 Human Rights Council, Eighth session. Protect, Respect and Remedy: A Framework for Business and Human Rights.Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, John Ruggie, A/HRC/8/5 available online at http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G08/128/61/PDF/G0812861.pdf?OpenElement.Google Scholar
United Nations. 2010 Human Rights Council, Fourteenth Session. Business and Human Rights: Further Steps Towards the Operationalization of the ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework.Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary- General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, John Ruggie, A/HRC/14/27, available online at http://www .reports-and-materials.org/Ruggie-report-2010.pdf.Google Scholar
Wettstein, F. 2009. Multinational Corporations and Global Justice: Human Rights Obligations of a Quasi-Governmental Institution Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press).Google Scholar
Wettstein, F. 2010. “For Better or For Worse: Corporate Responsibility Beyond ‘Do No Harm’,” Business Ethics Quarterly volume20 (2:)275–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wettstein, F.,and andWaddock, S. 2005. “Voluntary or Mandatory: That Is (Not) the Question: Linking Corporate Citizenship to Human Rights Obligations for Business,” Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik volume6 (3:)304–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widerker, D. 1991. “Frankfurt on ‘Ought Implies Can ’and Alternative Possibilities,” Analysis volume51 222–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiggen, O.,and Bomann-Larsen, L. 2004. “Addressing Side-Effect Harm in the Business Context: Conceptual and Practical Challenges,” in Responsibility in World Business: Managing Harmful Side-Effects of Corporate Activity ed. Wiggen, O.Bomann-Larsen, L.3–14New York: United Nations University Press).Google Scholar
Young, I. 2003. “From Guilt to Solidarity: Sweatshops and Political Responsibility,” Dissent 50 (2:)39–44.Google Scholar
Young, I. 2004. “Responsibility and Global Labor Justice,” Journal of Political Philosophy 12(4:)365–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar