Scenarios of business-related human rights abuses

Addressing the complexity of factual patterns in business-related human rights abuses, Chapter Two shows – through selected case studies, notably Yahoo! in China and the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar – that adverse human rights impacts often result from the combined actions and omissions of multiple actors. It underscores the role of damage in the hybrid responsibility model as the key element linking these varied contributions to a concrete abuse. Isolating normatively relevant contributions requires selecting an appropriate causation standard, one that balances the competing aims of ensuring full and effective remedies for victims while avoiding the imposition of liability on wrongdoers beyond what is attributable to their conduct. The standards of proximity and foreseeability emerge as the most plausible options, with the latter offering the advantage of greater specificity. The multiplicity of actors is accompanied by their differentiation: states representing the public sphere and corporations operating within the private sphere constitute distinct governance regimes, and their respective characteristics translate into different rules governing their capacity to bear responsibility under international law.