Fifteen Years After the UN Guiding Principles: What Civil Remedy Do Victims in Asia Actually Have?

On 16 June 2026, the UN Human Rights Office marked the fifteenth anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) with a statement calling for renewed urgency in implementing them, pointing to armed conflict, climate change and digital transformation as forces heightening the risk of business-related human rights abuse (OHCHR statement). It's the anniversary that gives Multinationals and Human Rights in Asia (Hart Publishing), a new title just added to our Law collection, its organising question: fifteen years on, how much civil remedy do people actually have against multinational businesses in a region with, in the editors' own words, a mixed record on human rights?

A region still building its remedies. Unlike Europe, where mandatory human rights due diligence legislation and expanding court jurisdiction have become common tools for holding businesses to account, most Asian jurisdictions are still assembling an equivalent toolkit. The UNDP's decade-long Business and Human Rights in Asia programme frames the shift as work still very much in progress: responsible business conduct is taking root across the region, but unevenly, and the next phase of the agenda matters more than the last (UNDP Asia-Pacific). Edited by Jason Ho Ching Cheung and Kazuaki Nishioka, the book gathers case studies from Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand and India to map exactly where that toolkit stands today - international and universal jurisdiction, extraterritoriality, and the practical routes victims actually have into a courtroom.

The case law is moving faster than the legislation. South Korea's Constitutional Court ruled in 2025 that the country's climate targets fall short of protecting the rights of future generations - the first ruling of its kind in Asia, forcing the National Assembly to revise the law by February 2026 (Oil Change International). India's Supreme Court took a parallel step in 2024, reading protection from climate harm into the constitutional right to life. And across the region, communities are increasingly taking multinationals straight to court over climate and environmental harm - Philippine typhoon survivors suing Shell, Indonesian islanders suing Holcim, and a wave of similar claims tracked across South Korea, the Philippines, India and Indonesia (Grist). The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre's look-ahead to 2026 notes the same pattern playing out globally: new lawsuits from heatwave and flood victims, rising litigation against transition-mineral and renewable energy projects over their human rights impacts, and courts increasingly willing to test greenwashing claims (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre).

Why this matters for counsel now, not eventually. The International Bar Association's own anniversary review points to a French Duty of Vigilance Act judgment from March 2026, where a court drew directly on the UNGPs to hold that due diligence legislation serves both corporate accountability and victim compensation - a sign the UNGPs are migrating from soft-law guidance into binding case law well beyond the jurisdictions that wrote them (International Bar Association). For counsel advising multinationals with Asian operations or supply chains, that migration is the real story: the jurisdictional and remedial gaps this book maps today are exactly the gaps hard law is starting to close.

Multinationals and Human Rights in Asia also covers emerging issues beyond the courtroom - environmental damage, crimes against humanity, and corporate compliance programmes - before closing with a concrete action plan for implementing the UN Guiding Principles across the region. It's available now from CLNZ Books, with worldwide shipping included.

Q&A

Where can I buy Multinationals and Human Rights in Asia?
It is available directly from CLNZ Books, with worldwide shipping.

Which jurisdictions does the book cover as case studies?
Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand and India.

Why does the 15th anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles matter here?
The book uses that anniversary to assess how far the Guiding Principles' norms have actually taken root in Asia, a region with an uneven record on business and human rights.

Is climate litigation part of the book's coverage?
Yes, environmental damage and climate change litigation against private actors is one of its dedicated topics.

Who is this book written for?
Human rights litigators, corporate compliance counsel, NGOs, policymakers and academic law libraries tracking business and human rights developments in Asia.