Human Rights militant before the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Image via DPLF. All rights reserved.
When a State enables the creation of companies under its legal system but refrains from imposing safeguards on their activities abroad, it can benefit from corporate activities that might result in human rights violations in other territories.
This situation is exacerbated when the host State where subsidiaries operate is either unwilling or unable to ensure the rights of its own citizens, when they face corporate abuses. In the absence of a treaty regulating extraterritorial obligations (ETOs) in the context of the overseas operations of companies, the content of said obligations has been developed primarily through the statements of international human rights bodies.
