Laura Bernal Bermudez | Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (original) (raw)

Papers by Laura Bernal Bermudez

Although the definition and purpose of transitional justice (TJ) does not preclude the inclusion ... more Although the definition and purpose of transitional justice (TJ) does not preclude the inclusion of non-state business actors? involvement in past authoritarian state or armed conflict violence, these types human rights violations (HRVs) are not included in formal TJ mandates. Nonetheless, in practice, TJ processes have included ad hoc measures to hold economic actors responsible for those violations. This article seeks to participate in the ongoing discussions and design of a UN-initiated proposal for a treaty on business and human rights by adding the TJ dimension. It draws on the Corporate Accountability and Transitional Justice (CATJ) data base to show that TJ initiatives have already incorporated economic actors in the investigations of past human rights abuses and how they have done so. It further explores what is missing from these processes and how a treaty on business and human rights could help fill those voids and advance victims? rights to truth, justice, and reparations...

América Latina lidera el desarrollo de mecanismos de rendición de cuentas para responsabilizar a ... more América Latina lidera el desarrollo de mecanismos de rendición de cuentas para responsabilizar a actores económicos por su participación en violaciones de derechos humanos en regímenes autoritarios y conflictos armados. El rol de estos actores ha sido identificado por algunos como la ?pieza perdida del rompecabezas, para ampliar el espectro de reparaciones? (Bohoslavsky y Opgenhaffen 2010:160) por la violencia durante regímenes autoritarios y conflictos armados, así como para cumplir con los objetivos de derechos humanos de verdad, justicia, reparaciones y garantías de no repetición. Hasta que los esfuerzos en este sentido iniciaron en la región, el rol de la complicidad empresarial (CE) en la justicia transicional (JT) había sido largamente ignorado por académicos y profesionales. Sin embargo, nuestro trabajo sugiere que ya en los inicios de la JT el proceso de rendición de cuentas post Holocausto reconoció la importancia de tomar en cuenta la responsabilidad de las empresas en gra...

Vniversitas. Revista de Ciencias Jurídicas, 2012

Palabras clave autoras: organismo de control social informal, medios de comunicación, olas de cri... more Palabras clave autoras: organismo de control social informal, medios de comunicación, olas de criminalidad, moralización del derecho penal, selectividad, libertad de expresión, principio de publicidad.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2017

Guarantees of non-recurrence of mass atrocity crimes are embedded within the United Nations resol... more Guarantees of non-recurrence of mass atrocity crimes are embedded within the United Nations resolutions and declarations on peacebuilding and sustainable development, particularly SDG 16 linking social integration, justice, and sustainable peace. The United Nations and the World Bank recognize the need to channel conflict towards socially regenerative pathways, and work to prevent conflict prior to its effect on the social, economic, and political systems that drive human development. Yet there is a scarcity of empirical investigations into the requisite societal incentives and capabilities for the fostering of local dynamics to reduce the risk of conflict, including the establishment and function of constitutions, human rights institutions, and transitional justice processes. As part of the joint World Bank-United Nations "Sustaining Peace: Making Development Work for the Prevention of Violent Conflicts" project, this study provides an initial exploration of the relationship between these factors and conflict reoccurrence. 1 We use the term "recurrence" because of the adoption of that term in the joint UN-World Bank study. We contend, however, that conflict reoccurrence would more accurately reflect the objective of the study than recurrence. In our view, the UN Special Rapporteur's mandate erroneously uses the "recurrence" terminology. To recur infers a repeated recurrence of an event. However, reoccurrence is where an event happens again but not necessarily repeatedly or multiple times. The objective of the study is to consider any reoccurrence, not only repeated recurrences of conflict. It is our view that the term reoccurrence should replace recurrence in international organizations' usage.

Although the definition and purpose of transitional justice (TJ) does not preclude the inclusion ... more Although the definition and purpose of transitional justice (TJ) does not preclude the inclusion of non-state business actors' involvement in past authoritarian state or armed conflict violence, these types human rights violations (HRVs) are not included in formal TJ mandates. Nonetheless, in practice, TJ processes have included ad hoc measures to hold economic actors responsible for those violations. This article seeks to participate in the ongoing discussions and design of a UN-initiated proposal for a treaty on business and human rights by adding the TJ dimension. It draws on the Corporate Accountability and Transitional Justice (CATJ) data base to show that TJ initiatives have already incorporated economic actors in the investigations of past human rights abuses and how they have done so. It further explores what is missing from these processes and how a treaty on business and human rights could help fill those voids and advance victims' rights to truth, justice, and reparations.

The questions of business involvement in human rights violations in countries facing civil confli... more The questions of business involvement in human rights violations in countries facing civil conflict, as well as access to remedy and accountability for these violations have generated a considerable amount of attention from academia and practitioners. While most theoretical efforts on access to remedy and accountability have focused on identifying the obstacles to access to justice, these do not explain the unlikely case of Colombia, where despite all structural obstacles being present (e.g. armed conflict, corruption), the country has positioned itself as a leader in the region in terms of judicialisation and convictions of economic actors for their complicity with grave human rights violations committed in the course of the 50 year internal armed conflict. This thesis is a theory building and theory-testing project that looks for alternative explanations to the outcomes registered in Colombia, focusing on the agents involved in these cases and how the variation in the power of the...

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2016

This article presents a new dataset of allegations of corporate human rights abuse in Latin Ameri... more This article presents a new dataset of allegations of corporate human rights abuse in Latin America from 2000-2014. The dataset responds to growing interest in the role of businesses in human rights violations, accountability processes for corporate abuses, and possible remedies for victims. It is the first dataset of its kind that offers a tool for analyzing five types of allegations of corporate human rights abuse (physical violence, development and poverty, health, environment, and labor) and judicial or non-judicial remedy mechanisms associated with each allegation. Initial analysis of the data show results that defy assumptions in the existing literature regarding which sectors are most likely to be targeted in allegations of abuse, who makes claims against companies, and the outcomes of those claims for victims of abuse.

The SAGE Handbook of International Corporate and Public Affairs

Corporate public affairs have transformed over the past two decades. This is no more apparent tha... more Corporate public affairs have transformed over the past two decades. This is no more apparent than around the issue of business and human rights. Companies today, especially trans- or multi-national corporations, are faced with the challenge of addressing a variety of stakeholder concerns and must adopt new, innovative, and at times collaborative public affairs strategies to prepare for the external, non-market environment. This chapter explores how the agenda of business and human rights has developed, how companies typically respond, and concludes by outlining how this issue has changed corporate public affairs.

Law and Policy in Latin America, 2016

This chapter uses Colombia as a case study to explore some of the patterns in the use and outcome... more This chapter uses Colombia as a case study to explore some of the patterns in the use and outcomes of judicial remedy mechanisms. It looks at the global regulatory framework where these mechanisms are embedded, and uses descriptive statistics to explore hypotheses extracted from different sets of literature that try to explain remedy and accountability outcomes. Some preliminary findings on patterns that need further testing highlight the importance of global pressure and the role of civil society and its networks in obtaining accountability and remedy. There was no support in the comparative analysis of claims regarding the importance of the company profile (i.e. economic sector, notoriety of brand and commitment to global human rights norms) in judicial outcomes.

o k-review-investigating-srebrenica-institutio ns-facts-respo nsibilities/ Blo g Admin

International Law Revista Colombiana De Derecho Internacional, Dec 1, 2012

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the interdependence and indivisibility of ... more In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the interdependence and indivisibility of the human rights, human development and human security agendas. The United Nations, particularly the Secretary General and the United Nations Development Programme, have embraced this approach because of its potential to address structural problems, to secure coherence in all of the activities of the organization and fulfil the principles of the Charter. This library based paper reviews the application of this 'approach to human well-being' to the IDPs in Colombia, and will contend that, although this all encompassing approach to human protection has an impact on the possibility of enhancing the capacity of these discourses of addressing human well-being, there are risks which need to be highlighted in order to guarantee that the emancipatory character of human rights will not be co-opted or instrumentalized.

Vniversitas, Jun 1, 2012

Vniversitas, 2014

The human rights discourse has been justified by the need to move pastthe restrains and impunity ... more The human rights discourse has been justified by the need to move pastthe restrains and impunity that arose from nationalism and citizenshiprights. Although international criminal law has recently been imaginedas the scenario or theatre to reinforce the existence of a ‘political communityof justice’ based on our common humanity, it has not been ableto displace the concept of state sovereignty. This shows how our ‘naturalindifference to others’ is not overcome by the simple use of language,by the subscription of covenants or by the creation of institutions andmechanisms for the adjudication of justice.

En mas de sesenta anos de conflicto armado en Colombia ha sido documentado, tanto en los tribunal... more En mas de sesenta anos de conflicto armado en Colombia ha sido documentado, tanto en los tribunales como en los mecanismos extrajudiciales y fuentes academicas, el involucramiento de grupos armados de izquierda,1 grupos paramilitares2 y las fuerzas estatales en el conflicto. Sin embargo, sabemos poco acerca del involucramiento de los actores civiles no combatientes que han contribuido al desarrollo de la guerra en las regiones y ciudades del pais. En especial, aquellos que amasaron sus fortunas o se valieron del contexto del conflicto para conseguir ventajas competitivas en sus negocios. En otras palabras, no ha existido una perspectiva multiactor del conflicto armado colombiano. Por ejemplo, en los ultimos 35 anos ha habido al menos 61 acuerdos de paz entre los actores armados ilegales y el Estado (Chaparro y Martinez, 2017, p. 11) en los cuales el fenomeno de la complicidad empresarial en hechos del conflicto, es decir los vinculos entre el poder economico y los actores armados, n...

Although the definition and purpose of transitional justice (TJ) does not preclude the inclusion ... more Although the definition and purpose of transitional justice (TJ) does not preclude the inclusion of non-state business actors’ involvement in past authoritarian state or armed conflict violence, these types human rights violations (HRVs) are not included in formal TJ mandates. Nonetheless, in practice, TJ processes have included ad hoc measures to hold economic actors responsible for those violations. This article seeks to participate in the ongoing discussions and design of a UN-initiated proposal for a treaty on business and human rights by adding the TJ dimension. It draws on the Corporate Accountability and Transitional Justice (CATJ) data base to show that TJ initiatives have already incorporated economic actors in the investigations of past human rights abuses and how they have done so. It further explores what is missing from these processes and how a treaty on business and human rights could help fill those voids and advance victims’ rights to truth, justice, and reparations.

Book Reviews by Laura Bernal Bermudez

Vniversitas. Revista de Ciencias Jurídicas, 2012

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2017

Although the definition and purpose of transitional justice (TJ) does not preclude the inclusion ... more Although the definition and purpose of transitional justice (TJ) does not preclude the inclusion of non-state business actors' involvement in past authoritarian state or armed conflict violence, these types human rights violations (HRVs) are not included in formal TJ mandates. Nonetheless, in practice, TJ processes have included ad hoc measures to hold economic actors responsible for those violations. This article seeks to participate in the ongoing discussions and design of a UN-initiated proposal for a treaty on business and human rights by adding the TJ dimension. It draws on the Corporate Accountability and Transitional Justice (CATJ) data base to show that TJ initiatives have already incorporated economic actors in the investigations of past human rights abuses and how they have done so. It further explores what is missing from these processes and how a treaty on business and human rights could help fill those voids and advance victims' rights to truth, justice, and reparations.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2016

The SAGE Handbook of International Corporate and Public Affairs

Law and Policy in Latin America, 2016

o k-review-investigating-srebrenica-institutio ns-facts-respo nsibilities/ Blo g Admin

International Law Revista Colombiana De Derecho Internacional, Dec 1, 2012

Vniversitas, Jun 1, 2012

Vniversitas, 2014

Although the definition and purpose of transitional justice (TJ) does not preclude the inclusion ... more Although the definition and purpose of transitional justice (TJ) does not preclude the inclusion of non-state business actors’ involvement in past authoritarian state or armed conflict violence, these types human rights violations (HRVs) are not included in formal TJ mandates. Nonetheless, in practice, TJ processes have included ad hoc measures to hold economic actors responsible for those violations. This article seeks to participate in the ongoing discussions and design of a UN-initiated proposal for a treaty on business and human rights by adding the TJ dimension. It draws on the Corporate Accountability and Transitional Justice (CATJ) data base to show that TJ initiatives have already incorporated economic actors in the investigations of past human rights abuses and how they have done so. It further explores what is missing from these processes and how a treaty on business and human rights could help fill those voids and advance victims’ rights to truth, justice, and reparations.

El presente informe tiene como objetivo contribuir a la definición de lineamientos que... more El presente informe tiene como objetivo contribuir a la definición de lineamientos que permitirán a la CEV una aproximación estratégica, planeada y sensible frente a la complicidad empresarial en el conflicto armado colombiano.

This book chapter (Book: Law and Policy in Latin America: Transforming Courts, Institutions and R... more This book chapter (Book: Law and Policy in Latin America: Transforming Courts, Institutions and Rights) uses Colombia as a case study to explore some of the patterns in the use and outcomes of judicial remedy mechanisms when business actors have been involved in human rights violations, as well as to locate the Urapalma case in the broader universe of cases of corporate involvement in human rights violations in the country.

The case of Urapalma S.A.'s complicity with paramilitary violence and the forced displacement of ... more The case of Urapalma S.A.'s complicity with paramilitary violence and the forced displacement of Afro-Colombian communities in the Department of Chocó is presented in this short case study as an emblematic example of the positive effect of the activation of transnational activism networks by victims when they encounter the so-called governance gap; in other words, when they experience that ‘all official judicial and non-judicial channels for victims to obtain justice and remedy are blocked'.