Translating Unocal: The Liability of Transnational Corporations for Human Rights Violations

Benoît Frydman and Ludovic Hennebel examine transnational human rights litigation against multinational corporations through comparative analysis of the Unocal-Total case, in which human rights abuses by the Burmese military connected to the Yadana pipeline project were litigated across jurisdictions—via civil claims under U.S. law and criminal prosecutions in France and Belgium. The authors demonstrate how "legal translation" enables a common accountability concept to be expressed through each jurisdiction's distinct procedures and tools, while identifying significant obstacles and political resistance victims face when seeking justice against foreign companies. They conclude that national jurisdictions should remain open to such complaints against private actors based in rule-of-law states, and suggest that widening access to civil remedies offers a pragmatic avenue for obtaining judicial condemnation and reparation when international and local mechanisms prove insufficient.