Human rights are at the forefront of the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy. Although the former pillar structure was abolished by the Treaty of Lisbon, the external action is still characterized by a multiplicity of institutional actors, policy instruments and decision-making procedures. Nevertheless, the EU is legally obliged to conduct a coherent policy. The pressing question is thus whether there is truly ‘a’ external human rights policy. In order to answer this question, this article examines the bilateral relationships between the EU and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the DRC).The analysis is structured according to three mechanisms that can serve to protect and promote human rights in third countries, notably conditionality, positive measures and defence actions.
This paper examines the availability of effective legal remedies in the home state of transnational corporations that violate the rights of local communities in developing countries. In this regard, three fundamental obstacles in the quest for justice are identified. First, courts may dismiss claims for lack of jurisdiction. Second, finding liability on the part of the subsidiary of a transnational corporation so as to award compensation can suffer from flaws in the regulatory framework of the host state, which generally constitutes the applicable law. Third, the principle of the corporate veil provides the opportunity to parent companies to escape liability. Given the unjust consequences of this state of affairs, this paper identifies opportunities to redress the current lack of effective legal remedies in the home state of transnational corporations.
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