International Financial Institutions, Transnational Corporations and Duties of States

GLOBAL JUSTICE, STATE DUTIES: THE EXTRA-TERRITORIAL SCOPE OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW, Malcolm Langford, Wouter Vandenhole, Martin Scheinin, Willem van Genugten, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2012

NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 11-59

51 Pages Posted: 6 Sep 2011 Last revised: 7 Sep 2011

See all articles by Smita Narula

Smita Narula

Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University

Date Written: September 6, 2011

Abstract

International financial institutions and transnational corporations exert increasing influence on the human rights of populations worldwide. Simultaneously, growing global power imbalances make it increasingly difficult for weaker States to assert full control over policies that are central to their ability to fulfill their human rights obligations. While international human rights norms, and particularly economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights, may have an important role to play in addressing this power imbalance, the existing human rights legal framework is ill-equipped to deal with economic globalization and the human rights impact of powerful global actors. This Paper proposes a way in which these actors may be held accountable for their impacts under existing international human rights law. It first discusses accountability gaps in international law that undermine effective implementation of ESC rights, particularly those relating to non-state and foreign actors. It then critiques two existing arguments on how to read extraterritorial obligations into the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and proposes an alternative method that differentiates between the types of extraterritorial rights obligations that a State may incur. It concludes by suggesting specific ways that international financial institutions and transnational corporations can be held indirectly accountable for the ESC rights violations to which they contribute.

Keywords: International Human Rights Law, extraterritorial obligations, economic and social rights, right to food, non-state actors, international financial institutions, transnational corporations, ICESCR, economic globalization

JEL Classification: K33, Q18

Suggested Citation

Narula, Smita, International Financial Institutions, Transnational Corporations and Duties of States (September 6, 2011). GLOBAL JUSTICE, STATE DUTIES: THE EXTRA-TERRITORIAL SCOPE OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW, Malcolm Langford, Wouter Vandenhole, Martin Scheinin, Willem van Genugten, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2012, NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 11-59, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1922873

Smita Narula (Contact Author)

Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University

78 North Broadway
White Plains, NY 10603
United States
10603 (Fax)

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