Paradoxes of Personality: Transnational Corporations, Non-Governmental Organizations and Human Rights in International Law

Abstract

In this chapter author discusses the status of the non-state actors known variously as transnational corporations (TNCs) or multinational enterprises (MNEs) in international human rights law, adding in my modest way to the insightful consideration the other contributors to this part of the book have given to established and emerging actors in the international order. There is a model for resolving this paradox. Fortunately, it allows me briefly to consider the International Labor Organization's engagement with the issue of addressing TNCs' alleged violations of international human rights standards. International humanitarians typically justify their preference of NGOs over TNCs,and consequently the different status these non-state actors are accorded in international law, by arguing that TNCs are capable of violating human rights and, at the same time, unaccountable for the exercise of their power. In this wholly undemocratic fashion, TNCs influence the normative landscape by shopping for preferred regulatory environments. Keywords: multinational enterprises (MNEs); regulatory environments; transnational corporations(TNC); undemocratic fashion