Corporate social responsibility and human rights; : An examination of the Swedish National Contact Point of the OECD and other possible alternatives.

Sammanfattning: This thesis firstly attempts to provide a theoretical basis for how the complex cases related to corporate misbehaviour in relation to human rights respect should be handled. Secondly, it attempts to critically examine how well the Swedish National Contact Point (SNCP) functionsin relation to its goals through the usage of elite interviews. Thirdly and finally it also explores the interest of concerned stakeholders in finding other non-judicial conflictmanagement mechanisms for cases within the CSR – human rights nexus at other mediation institutions such as the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) and/or the InternationalChamber of Commerce (ICC). The thesis argues that it is possible and advisable to apply Dworkin’s idea of hard cases to the conflictual cases appearing within CSR-human rights nexus in Sweden. It directs criticism towards the usage of opaque social pressure currently applied when hard cases within the CSR-human rights nexus are to be solved. It argues that usage of such pressure both makes it hard to follow up on decisions made and makes it questionable whether victims of human rights abuses related to corporate conduct are provided with effective access to remedy. It suggests that Dworkin’s general principles of equal respect and concern is a least common denominator for the demands placed on conflict management mechanisms within the CSRhuman rights nexus by both relevant soft law instruments and respondents in the elite interviews carried out for the thesis. As a result of the interview survey the thesis draws the conclusion that the SNCP to a major extent seems to have failed in the fulfilment of its goals and the expectations placed upon it as stipulated by the OECD 2000 guidelines. What is more the SNCP seems little equipped to meet the requirements of the 2011 version of the OECD guidelines and the UN Guiding Principles unless some sincere and large scale efforts are made by the Swedish government and other concerned parties in the SNC’s regeneration. The thesis found the interest among concerned stakeholders for alternative conflict management mechanisms at the SCC and the ICC to be generally low. Respondents generally thought that the challenges for such private institutions to procure the confidence of both sides in a conflict would be too difficult for them to overcome.