Big companies profit from poverty but aren’t obliged to uphold human rights. International law must change – scholar

There is some disagreement among legal practitioners and scholars about whether corporations have duties under international law.

Many argue that only states are bound by international law, and it is those states which are obliged to regulate how businesses operate within their borders. Corporations have only a voluntary responsibility to avoid committing human rights violations through their operations.

I have been doing research in the area of corporate accountability for human rights violations since 2006. My most recent paper looks at the role of multinational corporations (multinationals) in benefiting from and perpetuating structural poverty in the global south.