- Governments having to decide between the competing priorities of effective redress for victims and attracting international investment for job creation
- Victims lacking information about the processes for seeking redress
- Victims being politically marginalised based on issues such as race, class and gender
- Victims being unable to afford legal advice as well as there being a lack of legal expertise to call on.
- Victims not trusting the delays, uncertainty, weak remedies, and independence of the legal and self-regulatory system
- The reality of rights media briefing (The LSE and The Core Coalition)
- Governments lacking the capacity to enforce the laws they do have, and
- Large multinational companies having the money and expertise to exploit and reinforce the barriers.
Full report available at http://www.corporate-responsibility.org The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
and The Corporate Responsibility (CORE) Coalition Media Briefing The Reality of Rights A new report reveals the reality for victims of human rights grievances by UK companies Victims of human rights abuses are powerless against big business UK companies operating in developing countries have a chequered history. Their record on labour rights, health and safety, discrimination and environmental harm would not be tolerated in the UK but they are having significant effects on the world’s poorest communities and workers.
A new report by the London School of Economics (LSE) and The Corporate Responsibility (CORE) Coalition exposes how victims harmed by these abuses are being left powerless when pitted against large multinationals. The report supports the growing calls for the UK government to establish a Commission on Business, Human Rights and the Environment to improve accountability of UK companies and their behaviour overseas. New research reveals insurmountable social, economic and political barriers Taking the debate beyond previous studies that concentrate on the legal obstacles to righting corporate wrongs, The reality of rights report presents evidence that, even where human rights regulations are in place, victims face economic, political and social barriers when trying to reassert their human rights or receive compensation for damage they suffer. The reality of rights finds the key barriers include: