Earlier this month a New York District judge cleared the way for lawsuits brought against IBM, Ford and General Motors relating to collusion with the South African government during the apartheid era. This signifies a major step for the business and human rights movement, while having profound implications for any company doing business with despotic regimes.
Although this case is far from over, in-house counsels from Fortune 500 companies are almost certainly keeping a watchful eye on how it plays out. If some companies' lawyers are not, then those corporations need new lawyers.
One of the biggest obstacles for human rights defenders has been a holding company legally responsible for complicit behaviour of rights violations. Historically, it has been a tremendous challenge for activists to convince US courts that the domestic private sector must be held responsible for violations abroad. This is no longer the case. Examples like this case prove why business can no longer function apolitically in a so-called amoral global capitalist system.
It's no wonder, then, that the US and South African governments sided with businesses when this case first appeared; if these companies are forced to pay damages either through legal deliberation or out-of-court settlements, the floodgates will open to other civil society groups demanding corporate accountability.
American jurisprudence has significant influence around the world and this could be the beginning of a new accountability that is gaining strong momentum and is led by journalists, lawyers, academics, victims and genuinely concerned members of civil society.
It should also come as no surprise that a highly educated, worldly class is revealing itself within the global neo-liberal framework. This new class is ready to hold business accountable and is using creative approaches to engage traditional dispute resolution.