Corporate Social Responsibility Creating Green Business Practices Abroad?: An Ecojustice Perspective Rights of the Person and Communities Committee CBA National Section on International Law Corporate Social Responsibility Series June 22, 2009

About Ecojustice Canada Ecojustice, formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund, goes to court to defend the right of Canadians to a healthy environment. Ecojustice is Canada's largest and foremost non-profit environmental law organization Ecojustice is a national organization that also works internationally

Human Rights and Environmental Issues A growing body of legal authority recognizes that environmental degradation can threaten basic human rights Everyone has the right to live in a healthy and ecologically balanced environment

Environmental Problems and the Global Economy Environmental problems and issues do not respect lines drawn on a map Environmental standards and regulations vary from one jurisdiction to the next The same company can operate in multiple jurisdictions Competition for investment dollars encourages externalizing cost of environmental harm

How to Address Environmental Harm caused by multinationals International Conventions, Agreements and Declarations Domestic laws applied extra territorially Liberalized standing addressing Forum non conveniens arguments Voluntary CSR type initiatives

What is Corporate Social Responsibility? A form of corporate self-regulation integrated into the business model No recognized standards Not governed by legislation

Mining Disaster in Guyana: A Case Study Omai Gold Mine Disaster 1995 disaster at Canadian Owned Mine Thousands of liters of cyanide laced sludge released into Guyana’s largest river Community of 40, 000 aboriginal people living along the river affected

Respecting human rights and the environment should not be voluntary CSR alone will likely be ineffective This is too big a task for regulation alone to solve International and National regulation along with CSR initiatives will ultimately work the best