Bridging the Accountability Gap - A study of the civil liability of parent companies for business-related human rights abuse in Sweden, France and the United Kingdom

Abstract: The lack of accountability for human rights violations arising out of the activities of multinational enterprises has been identified as a key impediment to the fulfillment of universal human rights and the corresponding access to remedy for victims. However, the last couple of years have witnessed an increasing movement to bridge the accountability gap on the national and international level. The aim of the thesis is to clarify the possibilities of holding parent companies liable for business-related human rights abuse in Swedish, French and British civil law. France was the first country to embed mandatory human rights due diligence obligation into law with its ‘Duty of Vigilance Law’ in 2017, and the United Kingdom has received widespread coverage due to its landmark rulings on the direct liability of parent companies for business-related human rights abuse in their corporate groups. Despite Sweden’s commendable efforts on many human rights issues, there is as of yet no law that obligates Swedish businesses to respect human rights extraterritorially. The Swedish context is the focus of the study, which strives to identify the areas where corporate accountability for human rights abuse is lacking in Swedish civil law and suggest amendments based on the French and UK developments on business and human rights by employing a legal transplant method. The study concludes that Sweden has in its existing legislation not clearly set out the expectation that Swedish parent companies should respect human rights in their global operations. There are also several barriers to the access to remedy for rights-holders seeking to make a tort claim against a Swedish parent company. The study suggests introducing a mandatory human rights due diligence obligation for Swedish parent companies, either in the form of a law (inspired by the French initiative) or by incorporating a duty of care for Swedish parent companies towards stakeholders in the SCA (building on the UK notion of a duty of care). The study concludes that for Sweden to fulfil its responsibilities under the UNGPs, it should consider embedding the business respect for human rights into law.