Land grabbing, forced eviction, toxic health impacts, and environmental destruction — these have been common violations of communities at the hands of large corporations across Asia, often without recourse. That could change, however, as Thailand and South Korea look to lead in the region by creating their first legally binding human rights and environmental due diligence legislation.
“I'm very hopeful to see that in Thailand and also in other jurisdictions in the region there are these movements to introduce responsible business laws,” said Ji Yoon Kang, staff attorney at GongGam Human Rights Law Foundation and representative of the KTNC Watch, a collective working to combat multinationals’ human rights and environmental violations.
The region currently lacks any kind of Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, or CSDDD, comparable to that of the European Union, which stipulates that companies must prevent their operations from causing any harm to people or the environment. Instead, there are voluntary principles, such as those inside Thailand’s National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, that act as a framework for businesses to follow. But a lack of enforceable law or consequences for a breach of these principles leaves communities open to abuse, explained Nidhi Singh, business and human rights program manager at FORUM-ASIA, which promotes human rights in the region. And as economies in the region grow — faster than other parts of the world — more conglomerates and their potentially harmful operations are moving in.