[Call for papers] Delocalised justice: The transnationalisation of corporate accountability for human rights violations originating in Africa

AfronomicsLaw and the Asser Institute’s Doing Business Right project have a call for papers on ‘Delocalised Justice: The transnationalisation of corporate accountability for human rights violations originating in Africa’.

Background

More than twenty years ago nine local activists from the Ogoni region of Nigeria were executed by the then military dictatorship. The story of the Ogoni Nine does not stop in Nigeria; the tale of the nine men, the many lives lost, and the environmental degradation linked to the extraction of oil in the region by Shell has quite literally travelled the world.

What is often commonly referred to as the Kiobel case - after the application lodged by Esther Kiobel, the widow of Dr. Barinem Kiobel - originated in Nigeria, has been heard by courts in the USA, and is currently before Dutch courts.

The Kiobel case, as well as a flurry of other cases (e.g. the Bralima case before the Dutch NCP, the Nevsun case before the Canadian courts, the Vedanta case before the UK courts, or the Total case before the French courts, among others), embodies the flight of corporate accountability cases out of their original African contexts.

Delocalisation of access to justice

This transnational quest for an effective remedy by those who’s human and/or environmental rights have been violated is understandable, but it also raises serious questions about the consequences of the delocalisation of access to remedies in such cases. This conference, co-organised by Afronomics and the Asser Institute, aims to provide a forum for critical discussions of the justifications for, and consequences of, using various delocalised ‘sites of justice’ for human and environmental rights violations associated with ‘doing business’ in Africa.

In this collaboration between Afronomics and the Asser Institute’s Doing Business Right project, we welcome contributions from scholars working on African international law, African perspectives of international/transnational law, as well as scholars working on business and human rights more generally. The aim is to bring a plurality of voices into conversation with each other, and to generate original (and critical) engagements with the operation of transnational justice in the business and human rights space.

Deadlines

Deadline for abstract submission: 15 January 2021

Draft papers due: 1 March 2021

Read the full call here.