Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 52 (2020)
Crime as Cognitive Constraint
(b)Seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that
are directly linked to their operations, products or services by
their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to
those impacts. 285
Borrowing the language of the UNGPs is crucial to achieve
normative unity with the existing framework for corporate
responsibility. It can also complement domestic law initiatives
contained in the draft BHR treaty. 286 Applying the tort of negligence
in the case of Facebook in Myanmar, the duty would look like this:
The corporation must observe reasonable care that its product,
service, or operation does not cause, contribute, or be directly
linked to the perpetration of a Rome Statute crime.
Reasonable care. Although the UNGPs prescribe the different ways
that corporations may be involved in a human rights violation (causecontribute-linked), 287 the tort proposed here intends to prescribe the
standard of care that corporations must exercise in order to avoid
liability. Note that reasonable care here is used tentatively. Various
types of liability can be explored: vicarious liability, strict liability.
Various defenses can be examined: fulfilling the duty to mitigate and
prevent, exercising due diligence (such as by conducting a human rights
impact assessment before commencing in-country operations),
exercising extraordinary diligence. A finding of fault must be clarified.
As applied to Facebook’s operation in Myanmar during the relevant
period, it would appear that Facebook did not exercise reasonable care
to avoid its product to be directly linked to the spread of incitement
against the Rohingya. As discussed in the preceding sections, despite
numerous warnings and alerts from civil society, Facebook did not
adequately address the problem of hate speech and incitement on the
platform. 288 It noticeably implemented Myanmar-specific improvements
only in 2018, after the Myanmar tragedy had coincided with other
285. UNGPs, supra note 14, at 14–15 (principle 13).
286. See Legally Binding Instrument to Regulate, in International Human
Rights Law, the Activities of Transnational Corporations and other
Business Enterprises (OEIWG Chairman Revised Draft July 16, 2019)
art.
5
sec.
1,
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/WGTransCo
rp/OEIGWG_RevisedDraft_LBI.pdf [https://perma.cc/2BMY-K5US]
(last visited Feb. 11, 2020).
287. See U.N.H.R. Office of the High Commissioner, Guiding Principles on
Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect,
Respect
and
Remedy”
Framework
(2011),
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusi
nessHR_EN.pdf .
288. See discussion infra Part 2.
192