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hazardous work. 44 In some cases, a firm is unaware of their involvement of children infactories throughout the world. This can be evidenced through the 2007 exposure of a childin an Indian factory sewing a GAP label on a piece of clothing. The GAP, an Americanclothing company, publicly stated that they had no knowledge of children being employedby the factories they subcontract to perform work overseas. The GAP ultimately destroyedall clothing produced by children but the situation brought to light the serious issue ofchild labour, specifically overseas, where monitoring of factories is minimal. 45Human rights violations committed by MNC corporations throughout the world have beendocumented by many NGOs. The Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is dedicatedto the protection and advancement of the rights guaranteed by the US Constitution andthe Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The CCR was a pioneer in bringing US MNCfirms to justice for human rights violations committed overseas. One of the CCR’s mostnotorious suits was initiated against Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Petroleum. Thesuit stemmed from the 1995 execution of nine Ogoni leaders whom were executed by theNigerian Government. The nine leaders were falsely accused of murder as a direct result ofthe collaboration between the military government and the company now known as RoyalDutch Shell. 46Another circumstance which garnered international attention involved the Canadianoil giant Talisman Energy Inc. In 1998, Talisman purchased Arakis Energy, a Canadiancompany, which held large investments in the oil rich areas of Sudan. During this timehowever, Sudan was embroiled in the Second Sudanese Civil War. Consequently, thegovernment in Sudan, run by the National Islamic Front (NIF), was completely relianton the revenues generated by the country’s oil industry to fund the war effort. At thetime of purchase, the Sudanese Government was considered a terrorist group by the USGovernment and denounced as one of the worst human rights violators by the UnitedNations and several other international outfits. 47 Talisman was accused of directly fundingwar crimes and genocide through their oil investments in Sudan.16|Private Sector Accountability in Combating the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
2. International Standards and the Private Sector2.1 The Sources of International LawCSR is by no means the only mechanism available to hold the private sector accountablefor violations of children’s rights. In order to canvas the other options it is first necessary toprovide an overview of the composition and functionality of international law generally, andinternational human rights law in particular. The discussion that follows offers a synopsisof the sources of international law, while focusing on its relevance to commercial sexualexploitation of children. 48International human rights law comprises three main sources: treaties; customary law;and general principles of law. A treaty is a written document that states agree will governtheir behaviour. An important feature of treaty law is that it has historically been appliedonly to states, and just to states that agree to have it applied to them. States indicate theiragreement by ratifying the treaty and once ratified the state must seek to implement itin good faith. States that ratify a treaty may also file declarations and/or reservations togo along with their ratification. A declaration can have two purposes: it can indicate thestate’s position on how a certain right should be understood or interpreted in relationto itself; or it can serve as a comment on another states’ obligations under a treaty. Areservation indicates a state’s intent not to be bound by a certain part of the treaty. Itcreates an exception for that state in relation to a particular treaty provision and permitsit to become a party to the treaty without accepting all of its terms. Reservations can onlybe made under certain conditions. A reservation cannot defeat the “object and purpose” ofa treaty, for example. Moreover, certain provisions that constitute customary internationallaw – such as the prohibition against discrimination – cannot be reserved against. Further,a treaty may set out certain provisions, which cannot be reserved against, or the committeecharged with overseeing the treaty may do so.Customary law refers to law that develops when states consistently follow normsof behaviour out of a conviction that they are required to conform to the norm. Overtime, their consistent behaviour evolves into a type of international law. The traditionalconception of customary law is that it cannot develop simply out of what states do; onehas to demonstrate, not simply that the state has consistently taken a particular course ofaction, but that it did so out of a conviction that it was required to act in such a manner.Custom has both a physical and psychological component. It is said to exist where statesPrivate Sector Accountability in Combating the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children|17
Page 5 and 6: PRIVATE SECTOR ACCOUNTABILITYIN COM
Page 7 and 8: 3. Travel and Tourism Sub-Sector 63
Page 9 and 10: Executive SummarySince the First an
Page 11 and 12: from the sale of child pornography
Page 13 and 14: 1.1 Defining Commercial Sexual Expl
Page 15 and 16: The issue of commercial sexual expl
Page 17 and 18: 1.2.1 Transnational and multination
Page 19 and 20: offer stronger protections against,
Page 21 and 22: 1.3 Defining Corporate Social Respo
Page 23: Parliament passed a law requiring a
Page 27 and 28: In terms of international law, the
Page 29 and 30: alia: establish the grounds for cri
Page 31 and 32: The ILO Convention No. 138, Concern
Page 33 and 34: 2.4 Existing Legal Mechanisms to En
Page 35 and 36: 2.4.2 Existing mechanisms for regul
Page 37 and 38: Governments play an auxiliary role
Page 39: lack of ) monitoring and enforcemen
Page 42 and 43: who follow relevant international l
Page 44 and 45: the Commentary references the rule
Page 46 and 47: 2.4.2.1.2.1 Tripartite DeclarationT
Page 48 and 49: Unlike the preceding sections, whic
Page 50 and 51: A major criticism of the Tripartite
Page 52 and 53: MNEs are asked to respect worker’
Page 54 and 55: Guidelines voluntary, but non-OECD
Page 56 and 57: An alternative to the above is to r
Page 58 and 59: freedom from state interference in
Page 60 and 61: During the Nuremburg Tribunals, Ger
Page 62 and 63: ATCA expanded liability for interna
Page 64 and 65: Pursuant to the holding in Kadic re
Page 66 and 67: The Court could establish jurisdict
Page 68 and 69: likely come across similar obstacle
Page 70 and 71: ecognised by customary internationa
Page 72 and 73: The report draws together a number
Page 74 and 75:
means of fostering international pe
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a resolution, as well, in which it
Page 78 and 79:
The Swedish document was originally
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services are designed to combat chi
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into contact with individuals who c
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children’s perception of the worl
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advertisement. The European adverti
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high-profile case in the US where a
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child actors have gone on in adulth
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5. New Technologies Sub-Sector5.1 C
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North American cases illustrate how
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With the advent of the social netwo
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up to $US 500 if they violate the c
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As the genre is so new, there have
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- children’s rights advocates, go
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law enforcement agencies, but equal
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6. Financial Sub-SectorIt has been
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law enforcement is having trouble u
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encourage cooperation and follow-up
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emedies against all corporations op
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Another important objective of the
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Endnotes1 Mark Erik Hecht is an aca
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35Canada. Industry Canada. Corporat
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84On 31 Jan. 1999, UN Secretary-Gen
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110Norms, D.111Norms, point 5. (Rea
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143Ibid., “General Policies.” P
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179Ibid., Annex, III: Global Report
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of the Guidelines).212Ibid., Part I
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258Ibid.259UNWTO Report to the UN G
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310Ibid., 12.311Council of Europe,
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Germany and South Africa, ISPs are
Page 137:
The World Congress III against Sexu
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