Human rights responsibilities of state-owned enterprises

Abstract

The state occupies a curious place in the contemporary global order constructed through markets and multilateral frameworks of regulatory governance. The state retains its core function as an apex form of regulation within its territories (even as the forms that this regulation takes shifts). At the same time, the state has become an important participant within the markets it itself regulates. Through its state owned enterprises (SOEs) and other instruments, the state engages in economic activities within its territories as regulator and producer; outside its territories those instruments of state economic power operate within complex and evolving law, norms and rules functioning like other commercial ventures in global markets. SOEs also share the state’s dual character – as market participant and as the projection of state power in markets. This chapter considers the challenges and opportunities, from a human rights governance perspective, of this dual character of the SOE. Section 2 considers fundamental issues of the nature of state obligations and the definition of SOEs. Section 3 then examines the central question of this chapter – given the structures and trends in the development of frameworks for business and human rights, where and how do SOEs fit into these structures? The section first examines the way that emerging international soft law regulatory structures envision both the character and the role of SOEs within these human rights based regulatory standards. It then considers future challenges for SOE accountability under dynamically evolving international standards. The section ends with a set of brief recommendations.