Putting the French Duty of Vigilance Law in Context: Towards Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Violations in the
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Putting the French Duty of Vigilance Law in Context: Towards Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Violations in the Global South? Almut Schilling-Vacaflor 1 Accepted: 19 October 2020/ # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The adoption of the French Duty of Vigilance law has been celebrated as a milestone for advancing the transnational business and human rights regime. The law can contribute to harden corporate accountability by challenging the “separation principle” of transnational companies and by obligating companies to report on their duty of vigilance. However, the question of whether the law actually contributes to human rights and environmental protection along global supply chains requires empirically grounded research that connects processes in home and host state countries. This paper contributes to such a new research agenda by linking political ecology literature and empirical insights from the Global South to research on due diligence regulations. With reference to field research data on contestations between the oil and gas company Total E&P and indigenous communities in Bolivia, I argue that the burden of proof and contestations over valid knowledge represent major obstacles when trying to establish legal liability. Keywords Due diligence . Extractive industry . Accountability . Burden of proof . France .
Bolivia
Introduction Transnational corporations (TNCs) nowadays account for half of global exports, almost one-third of GDP and about one-fourth of global employment (OECD 2018). Global commodity chains are often highly centralized, and only a few companies dominate the world market (Bridge and LeBillon 2017; Clapp 2018). However, these parent firms enjoy a limited legal liability, as there is a fundamental disjuncture between economic
* Almut Schilling-Vacaflor aschillingva@uni–osnabrueck.de
1
Institute of Social Sciences, Osnabrück University, Seminarstr. 33, 49074 Osnabrück, Germany
A. Schilling-Vacaflor
reality and legal form (Ruggie 2018). National law for the most part governs the separate legal entities, not the single economic enterprise of parent and daughter companies, subsidiaries, and entities controlled by the parent firm. This principle of legal separation (or “separation principle”) has been at the core of current discussions in the field of business and human rights (Mares 2020). The separation principle has enabled retail and brand companies to increasingly source goods from suppliers embedded in complex and often intractable commodity chains, whereby lead firms have maximized their profits while minimizing their liability (LeBaron et al. 2017). This paper focuses on the globalized and highly centralized fossil fuel sector. Bridge and LeBillon (2017: 1) remind us that “oil pulses through our daily lives. It is the plastic we touch, the food we eat, and the way we move. Oil powers our cars, chainsaws and tanks.” The fossil fuel sector has been the main emitter of global greenhouse gasses (IPCC 2014). The rising consumption of products based on fossil fuels by industrialized co
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