Enforcement of Business and Human Rights Standards in Türkiye:

Constraints and Potential of Private International Law

Ömer Erkut Bulut

 

ABSTRACT: This article examines the enforcement of corporate human rights obligations through private international law (PIL), using Turkish legal framework as a case study. Although substantive standards in business and human rights (BHR) have developed significantly, their practical enforcement remains limited by the mismatch between transnational business activity, global value chains, and territorially grounded legal tools. The article argues that these difficulties are largely procedural rather than substantive, especially in relation to standing, jurisdiction, and the characterisation of claims within existing legal categories. It suggests a cautious expansion of standing and a functional approach to characterisation, under which traditional categories such as tort and contractual liability may be interpreted in light of the realities of global value chains and emerging BHR standards. The article further argues that this functional approach may need to be supported by a more explicit understanding of network responsibility in cases involving serious human rights breaches. In this way, PIL may better respond to harms arising from dispersed and multi-actor value-chain structures.