Acta Oeconomica Pragensia 2015, 23(5):64-74 | DOI: 10.18267/j.aop.486

Protection of Human Rights against the Adverse Impact of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises: Dilemmas of International Community

Ivana Machoňová Schellongová
Úřad Vysokého komisaře OSN pro lidská práva, odbor mezinárodních smluv, Ženeva (email: iva_schellongova@hotmail.com).

There is no doubt about an impact of corporate and business operations on human rights, both positive and negative. Growing influence of corporations, power shift between business and states, as well as the complex nature of corporate governance and transnational operations require international regulations. International community undertook numerous initiatives, the most significant and recent being the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights [2011], embraced by States, corporations and civil society as a "milestone" in business and human rights agenda. While being a useful comprehensive set of guidelines, Principles are lacking the legally binding force and any monitoring or complaints mechanism. Therefore, there are growing calls for a legally binding treaty to stipulate clearly human rights obligations of States/businesses vis-à-vis human rights and fill the protection gap for victims of corporate abuses. A newly established working group by the Human Rights Council has started to negotiate terms of reference of such a treaty in June 2015. However, meaningful negotiations are threatened by many factors, including the negative approach of US, EU and other developed States along with the corporate sector advocating for stronger implementation of Principles instead. This article aims to describe efforts of international community to prevent and eliminate a negative impact of corporate activities on human rights. It shows different approaches and highlights some challenges and dilemmas. It concludes that parallel efforts should be undertaken - to implement the Principles and to negotiate an international treaty - in order to improve protection against an adverse impact of corporate operations on human rights. As for the Czech Republic, it is suggested to embark on the elaboration of the National Action Plan, thus providing for an opportunity to discuss implementation of the Principles among all the relevant stakeholders.

Keywords: human rights, transnational corporations and business enterprises, international community
JEL classification: K33

Published: August 1, 2015  Show citation

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Machoňová Schellongová, I. (2015). Protection of Human Rights against the Adverse Impact of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises: Dilemmas of International Community. Acta Oeconomica Pragensia, 23(5), 64-74. doi: 10.18267/j.aop.486
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