ABSTRACT
Activists and academics highlight the significant harms perpetrated by MNEs, abuses that range from forced displacement from land, intimidation and violence, child and forced labour, environmental devastation, inhumane working conditions to repression against the formation of independent trade unions. In the context of economic globalization, increases in international trade have seen MNEs grow in size and reach, developing global supply chains supported by disparate sources of international finance. Multiple actors are involved in these chains, with business actors complicit in human rights abuse either acting alone or with state actors at local, regional, national and international levels. Identifying which actors are involved in these harms and where they are finding sources of financial support for their activities can be difficult. Even where they can be identified, finding ways to bring actors to account is hard. Ultimately, complexity in causation coupled with a lack of robust sources of leverage means that holding MNEs to account for the harms they cause remains challenging.
