跨國公司與國際勞動人權保障－管制類型的觀點

Abstract

全球貿易自由化的浪潮，使得跨國公司在過去數十餘年來獲得強大的經濟力量，並且威脅各地勞動人權的保障。然而現今國際人權法原則上仍以國家為義務主體，因此只有各國內國法才是主要拘束跨國公司的法源。但是各國內國法對於人權保障的規定及落實程度不一，使得跨國公司在各地侵犯人權時，而無法管制其侵害行為。加上跨國公司資本在國際上的流動性，導致管制跨國公司行為的困境，如何處理此一困境，因而成為本論文之核心問題意識。 過去數十年來許多國際組織均嘗試解決此一困境，然而本論文發現此議題發展至今，仍處於初步階段。雖然各國際組織已經努力闡述跨國公司所應負起的責任內涵，也不斷嘗試各種不同的手段以解決此一問題，但至今仍欠缺一套完整有效之管制機制。面對此未臻成熟的議題，本論文認為欲發展出一套完整的管制機制，應從受到國際社會高度重視及支持的人權下手，國際勞工組織近年來強調的四大核心勞動基準即為適例。 本文進一步分析解決此一問題的各種主要管制手段，包含貿易手段、公司社會責任、民事責任與強制揭露資訊四項，並進一步分析個別管制手段所能發揮之管制優勢及缺失。最後，本論文發現欲有效解決此一問題，必須在不同的具體事實脈絡之下，開展出不同的管制架構。而公司社會責任則是在所有脈絡之中，均能發揮管制效能的手段。據此，本論文首先依照跨國公司不同的產業特性，區分消費性產品產業與原物料產業，以公司社會責任為主軸，輔以最低限度要求的強制揭露體系，開展出管制重點不同的「基本管制模式」，而得以普遍地適用於所有跨國公司之上。 另外，針對部分特殊侵害事實，本論文則以此「基本管制模式」結合其他更合不同脈絡的管制手段，交織成一套「綜合管制模式」，如此便得以完整地解決跨國公司侵害國際勞動人權之問題。例如：當跨國公司違反強行國際法 (jus cogen) 之規定時，應輔以民事責任處理之；當跨國公司與地主國共謀人權侵害時，應輔以貿易制裁為之；而當地主國政策妨礙人權標準之落實時，貿易優惠措施將能有助於處理此一問題。最後本文將此「綜合管制模式」適用於四大核心勞動基準之上，並發現此一模式確實能有效管制跨國公司之侵害行為，甚至能進一步鼓勵跨國公司積極保障並實現國際勞動人權之要求。

Transnational corporations (TNCs) have gained enormous economical power in the past decades due to the elimination of trade barriers in the global market. Such power threatens the international labor rights enjoyed by laborers all over the world. However, international human rights law still only applies to states with few exceptions, and thus domestic law remains the major applicable law to TNCs. The problem comes from the various level of legal protection offered by different countries and the fluidity of TNCs’ capital, which enables TNCs to escape from any strict domestic regulations. This phenomenon makes it difficult to hold TNCs be responsible for the deviation of international labor rights law. Many international organizations have attempted to solve this regulatory problem, but the progress remains at the initial stage. Efforts have been put to elaborating the international labor rights responsibilities of TNCs and coming up with different solutions. No comprehensive regulatory mechanism was successfully developed. This thesis focuses on the ILO core labor standards in order to construct a feasible mechanism since they are highly supported by the international community and are an appropriate start point. This thesis seeks four major regulatory measures as potential solutions, including trade measure, corporate social responsibility (CSR), civil liability and mandatory disclosure. After looking into their functions, advantages and limitations, this thesis finds it necessary to address this issue by different factual context with the combination of selected measures. And CSR is the only measure which applies to all circumstances. Accordingly, characteristics of TNCs are divided into consumption product industry and raw material industry. This thesis takes CSR as fundamental regulatory function and argues for an international minimum mandatory disclosure system to construct a “basic regulatory model,” which is designed for different kinds of TNCs. Meanwhile, in dealing with certain unique factual context, this thesis bases on the “basic regulatory model,” combining with other tailored regulatory measures and further comes up with a “synthetic regulatory model” as a thorough regulatory mechanism. When TNCs violate jus cogen, for instances, civil liability system has its distinctive function for deterring the misconducts; when TNCs are complicit with a host government in labor rights abuses, trade sanctions should be resorted to for stronger regulation; when the policy of a host state hurdles the realization of labor right, trade benefits provide great incentives for improvements. Lastly, the “synthetic regulatory model” is applied to the core labor standards. This thesis argues that this model offers effective and feasible solutions to the derogation of international labor rights by TNCs and even encourages TNCs directly contributing to the realization of those labor standards.