Vol. 5 No. 1 (2021): Corporate Responsibility in light of the Inter-American System of Human Rights
Corporate Responsibility in light of the Inter-American System of Human Rights

Negotiating accountability for human rights violations: the case of the Volkswagen do Brasil agreement

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Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky
Universidad de Salamanca | Salamanca, Spain
Bio
Juan Cruz Goñi
Universidad de Buenos Aires | Buenos Aires, Argentina
Bio

Published 2021-06-30

Keywords

  • Volkswagen,
  • Brazil,
  • Complicity,
  • Human Rights,
  • Business,
  • Transnational Justice,
  • Inter-American System
    • ...More
    Less

How to Cite

Bohoslavsky, J. P., & Goñi, J. C. (2021). Negotiating accountability for human rights violations: the case of the Volkswagen do Brasil agreement. Homa Publica - Revista Internacional De Derechos Humanos Y Empresas, 5(1), e:075. Retrieved from https://periodicos.ufjf.br/index.php/HOMA/article/view/34296

Copyright (c) 2021 Homa Publica - International Journal on Human Rights and Business

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This article critically analyses the implications of the recent agreement signed between   Volkswagen (VW) do Brazil and the Federal Public Prosecutors’ Office closing the civil lawsuit filed by victims of the Brazilian dictatorship that alleged the complicity of their employer company in gross violations of human rights. In order to understand the complicit behaviour of corporations, the economic policies imposed during the dictatorships in the region are explained first as well as the progressions in the field of responsibility for corporate complicity. Then we present the background and scope of the VW do Brazil through the prism of a transitional justice perspective. Human rights standards applicable to the case are presented, emphasising the inter-American ones. Then we discuss the challenges and complexities that negotiations and agreements face in the field of corporate complicity. When analysing the potential and limits of the negotiations related to cases of corporate complicity, one conclusion drawn is that the compensatory amount not only can play a role in indemnifying victims of human rights violations but it also has a relevant meaning in terms of sanctioning those responsible and creating guarantees of non-recurrence.

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