Can the French Law of Vigilance apply to the extraterritorial violations of human rights?

Abstract

Building on the civil lawsuit filed in France against the French energy giant EDF whose Wind Park project is reported to violate rights of a Mexican indigenous community, this article explores interactions between human rights due diligence in renewable energies projects and indigenous rights. The article unpacks the potential extraterritorial reach contained by the French duty of vigilance law by providing a preliminary overview of how initial implementation of the law before French courts have realised this potential. More specifically the authors examine to what extent the law has been able to offer a platform to challenge decisions made by multinational corporations from those affected, and how the complex extraterritorial reach of the law have been approached in practice by the French tribunals. After having reviewed the main mechanisms of the law, the authors analyse some of the first cases that have been brought under it. The chapter then focuses the specific case study concerning indigenous peoples’ claims against the French multinational EDF. The authors provide reflections on whether French courts may, or not, examine claims based on both international and foreign norms, in particular indigenous peoples’ rights, which are otherwise not recognised and rejected by the French legal system.

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ORCID for Jeremie Gilbert: orcid.org/0000-0003-1377-3494

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