IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/aaajpp/v29y2016i4p679-704.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Human rights disasters, corporate accountability and the state

Author

Listed:
  • Javed Siddiqui
  • Shahzad Uddin

Abstract

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to examine the state-business nexus in responses to human rights violations in businesses and questions the efficacy of the UN guiding principles on human rights in businesses, in particular in the ready-made garments (RMG) industry in Bangladesh. Drawing on Cohen’s notion of “denial” and Black’s (2008) legitimacy and accountability relationships of state and non-state actors, the study seeks to explain why such “soft” global regulations remain inadequate. Design/methodology/approach - – The empirical work for this paper is based on the authors’ participation in two multiple-stakeholder advisory consultation meetings for the RMG sector in Bangladesh and 11 follow-up interviews. This is supplemented by documentary evidence on human rights disasters, responses of the state and non-state actors and human rights reports published in national and international newspapers. Findings - – The paper provides clear evidence that the state-business nexus perpetuates human rights disasters. The study also shows that the Bangladeshi state, ruled by family-led political parties, is more inclined to protect businesses that cause human rights disasters than to ensure human rights in businesses. The economic conditions of the RMG industry and accountability and legitimacy relationships between state and non-state actors have provided the necessary background for RMG owners to continue to violate the safety and security of the workplace and maintain inhumane working conditions. Research limitations/implications - – Complex state politics, including family, kinship and wealthy supporters, and economic circumstances have serious implications for the efficacy of the UN guiding principle on human rights for business. This paper calls for broader political and economic changes, nationally and internationally. Originality/value - – The study highlights the perpetuation of corporate human rights abuses by the state-business nexus, and indicates that human rights issues continue to be ignored through a discourse of denial. This is explained in terms of legitimacy and accountability relationships between state and non-state actors, bounded by complex political and economic conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Javed Siddiqui & Shahzad Uddin, 2016. "Human rights disasters, corporate accountability and the state," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(4), pages 679-704, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:aaajpp:v:29:y:2016:i:4:p:679-704
    DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-07-2015-2140
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/AAAJ-07-2015-2140/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/AAAJ-07-2015-2140/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/AAAJ-07-2015-2140?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cecilia Smaniotto & Anna Saramin & Laura Brunelli & Maria Parpinel, 2022. "Insights and Next Challenges for the Italian Educational System to Teach Sustainability in a Global Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Md Sultan Mahmood & Nilima Haque Ruma & Toufiq Ahmed & Yukari Nagai, 2021. "Exploring Suppliers’ Approaches toward Workplace Safety Compliance in the Global Garment Sector: From Bangladesh Perspective," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-31, March.
    3. Shahzad Uddin & Javed Siddiqui & Muhammad Azizul Islam, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures, Traditionalism and Politics: A Story from a Traditional Setting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 409-428, August.
    4. Rejaul Hasan & Marguerite Moore & Robert Handfield, 2021. "Establishing Operational Norms for Labor Rights Standards Implementation in Low-Cost Apparel Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-14, November.
    5. Md Shoaib Ahmed & Shahzad Uddin, 2022. "Workplace Bullying and Intensification of Labour Controls in the Clothing Supply Chain: Post-Rana Plaza Disaster," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(3), pages 539-556, June.
    6. S M Fijul Kabir & Samit Chakraborty & S M Azizul Hoque & Kavita Mathur, 2019. "Sustainability Assessment of Cotton-Based Textile Wet Processing," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 1(1), pages 1-15, September.
    7. Humayun Kabir & Myfanwy Maple & Md Shahidul Islam & Kim Usher, 2021. "Prevalence of Suicide Thoughts and Behaviours among Female Garment Workers Who Survived the Rana Plaza Collapse: An In-Depth Inquiry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-15, June.
    8. Humayun Kabir & Myfanwy Maple & Md Shahidul Islam & Kim Usher, 2019. "The Current Health and Wellbeing of the Survivors of the Rana Plaza Building Collapse in Bangladesh: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-21, July.
    9. Thibault Daudigeos & Thomas Roulet & Bertrand Valiorgue, 2020. "How Scandals Act as Catalysts of Fringe Stakeholders' Contentious Actions against Multinational Corporations," Post-Print hal-03041023, HAL.
    10. Matilal, Sumohon & Adhikari, Pawan, 2020. "Accounting in Bhopal: Making catastrophe," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    11. Michèle Rioux & Christine Vaillancourt, 2020. "Regulating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for Economic and Social Development Through Trade Rules," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 36(3), pages 335-352, September.
    12. Fahreen Alamgir & Ozan N. Alakavuklar, 2020. "Compliance Codes and Women Workers’ (Mis)representation and (Non)recognition in the Apparel Industry of Bangladesh," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(2), pages 295-310, August.
    13. Pavel Castka, 2020. "The Role of Standards in the Development and Delivery of Sustainable Products: A Research Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-18, December.
    14. Mohamad-Yusof, Nor Zalina & Wickramasinghe, Danture & Zaman, Mahbub, 2018. "Corporate governance, critical junctures and ethnic politics: Ownership and boards in Malaysia," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 33-52.
    15. Lilac Nachum, 2021. "Value distribution and markets for social justice in global value chains: Interdependence relationships and government policy," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(4), pages 541-563, December.
    16. Anthony Goerzen & Simon Peter Iskander & Joerg Hofstetter, 2021. "The effect of institutional pressures on business-led interventions to improve social compliance among emerging market suppliers in global value chains," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(3), pages 347-367, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:aaajpp:v:29:y:2016:i:4:p:679-704. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.