The Host States’ Regulatory Obligation to Human Rights Violations by Transnational Corporations

Abstract

The increasing importance of multinational corporations in the process of economic globalization, but the increasing number of human rights violations in the context of the operations of multinational companies has led to an increasing amount of research and reflection by the international community on such cases. In cases of human rights violations by transnational corporations, the victims are usually people living in the host country, and the violations are committed in the host country, so the host country has the right and the obligation to regulate and manage such cases. The obligation of States to protect human rights, the principle of mutual non-impairment of sovereignty and the necessary international cooperation are the main theoretical foundations of this obligation. According to the concept of due diligence, the state must take preventive measures when it knows or should know the risk of human rights violations and when it has the appropriate means or resources to prevent them. This paper summarizes the current dilemma of the host country concerning the corresponding regulatory obligations and analyses the corresponding causes through the research method of case studies and comparative research. It also summarizes the current views on the relationship between the duty of prevention and legal responsibility in the host country and the solutions to the host country’ s jurisdictional dilemma.