Knowing and Showing: Using U.S. Securities Laws to Compel Human Rights Disclosures

After decades of economic globalization and trade liberalization, traditional legal and regulatory enforcement systems have proved inadequate on their own to hold corporations accountable for the adverse social impacts of their business activities. Due partly to limitations of courts' jurisdictional authority over extraterritorial activities of corporations and weaknesses in the rule of law in operating jurisdictions,2 corporations have operated in an environment of inadequate enforcement of regulations intended to hold them accountable for the way they conduct business.3 Yet, public reaction to recent corporate disasters such as the factory collapse at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh,4 the adoption of socially responsible investment policies by a broad cross- section of investors,5 and international policy convergence on the responsibility of businesses to respect human rights6 all indicate that human rights concerns related to business activities are relevant and material to a broad set of stakeholders