The challenge of defining limits and rules of the vast power of multinational corporations towards States and citizens has been a long-standing issue in global governance. This power is illustrated by Amnesty International: out of the top 100 economies, 51 are corporations, 49 are States. The relationship of business with human rights has been an object of international debate for years, but in the last months, we have witnessed developments moving from the soft law approach to the request coming from the corporations of a regulation of their obligations related to human rights. Is there a shift in the global market?
Protect, Respect, Remedy: these are three pillars of the voluntary uniform framework set by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) - endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011- which define and allocate the responsibilities in relation to human rights between the States and businesses.
The same existence of the UNGPs amounts to the acknowledgement of a gap in the International Human Rights Law in a globalised market. International Human Rights Law was created around the States as sole subjects and sole bearers of obligations under International Law, and as a tool to limit State’s power before the citizens. On the other side, International Law regulating economic development has grown disconnected from International Human Rights Law through tools to promote and protect investment (BITs) and multilateral commercial conventions.
