Business and human rights: rethinking the human rights agenda in globalization

Abstract

Globalization is not just about the relationship between sovereign states. It implies a common legal space, in which they interact with non-governmental organizations and private entities, which has an impact on public international law and on international human rights law. In this scenario, States are obliged to comply with human rights individually and must intercede, promote and ensure respect within their jurisdiction by all individuals or private entities that make up the State. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights have been established as a global normative framework, serving as international reference standards, as reflected in the case law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, to analyse the actions of corporations and assess the responsibility of States for human rights violations by companies. With this in mind, it is necessary to rethink the traditional human rights agenda (which places only on States the specific obligation to respect them), extending its scope of action towards all members of the community (including companies), those with general duties of respect (as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other binding human rights instruments), by challenging the rules of attribution of international responsibility that place the State as the sole responsible for human rights violations.