Migrations, Brain Drain and Global Justice: What Role for Corporations?

Among corporate social responsibility's concerns, the issues posed by international migrations have never been taken into proper consideration. However, as migrants are unanimously considered a “vulnerable group”, they are demonstrably more exposed to risks of exploitation and discrimination. Thus, corporations are to be held accountable for the fulfilment of their negative duty to respect the rights of the migrants they or their supply chain employ. While it is crucial to raise awareness about these topics, there is at least another question posed by international migrations that should deserve corporations' attention: the “brain drain” phenomenon. Brain drain is one of the major issues in global justice debates, as developed countries are blamed for depriving poor countries of their best human resources, thus hampering poor countries' development process. Since it is indisputable that corporations have a stake in the mobility of human capital worldwide, we deem that, in the framework of an updated definition of CSR, brain drain issues would involve corporations' positive duty to contribute to realize global justice. Nevertheless, it appears that the potential initiatives that the private sector could undertake in the domain of brain drain represent a still unexplored field. Thus, what the present contribution will provide is, one hand, an account of MNCs' responsibilities with respect to migrants' rights, and, on the other hand, an attempt to put forward a hypothesis of study, with the aim of identifying the role that corporations could play in mitigating the negative effects caused by brain drain.