ABSTRACT
This chapter posits a theory of corporate responsibility for human rights protection. It considers whether and how the international legal process might provide for human rights obligations directly on corporations. The chapter examines the approach international law has taken to corporations as independent actors. It describes a swinging pendulum in the attention that the law has given to the relations between corporations and the states where they undertake their activities. The chapter seeks to justify the need for corporate responsibility, rather than state or individual responsibility, as a means for protecting human rights. It considers a variety of ways in which key international actors have already accepted duties on corporations, particularly in areas other than human rights. The chapter offers an overview of the means by which the theory of responsibility might be implemented within various arenas in which key actors prescribe, invoke, and apply international law.
