{"id":135644,"date":"2021-09-20T19:59:11","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T14:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=135644"},"modified":"2021-09-21T18:21:56","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T12:51:56","slug":"holding-tncs-accountable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/holding-tncs-accountable\/","title":{"rendered":"Holding TNCs accountable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
What is the news?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

As per the report published by the UN working group on \u2018human rights,\u00a0transnational corporations (TNCs) and other\u00a0businesses\u2019,\u00a0<\/span>it is important for\u00a0states to ensure that their bilateral investment treaties\u00a0(BITs) are compatible with international human rights obligations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It emphasizes the accountability of TNCs in international law. Many a times questions about the TNCs accountability have arisen. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the past efforts?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

In\u00a02014, the UN Human Rights Council established an open-ended working group with\u00a0the mandate to elaborate on an international\u00a0legally binding instrument on TNCs and other businesses concerning human rights.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, efforts are being made towards\u00a0developing a treaty and finding ways to make\u00a0foreign corporations accountable. <\/span><\/p>\n

The latest\u00a0UN report is a step in that direction.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How we can hold the\u00a0TNCs accountable?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Case study of Argentina<\/strong>: Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) can be harnessed to hold TNCs accountable under international law. <\/span><\/p>\n

The issue of fixing accountability of foreign investors came up in an international law case, Urbaser v. Argentina (2016).<\/span><\/p>\n

The tribunal held that corporations can be subjects of international law<\/em><\/strong> and are under a duty not to engage in activities that harm or destroy human rights. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, on question of whether the foreign investor was under an international law obligation to provide drinking water and sanitation, the tribunal held that only states have a positive obligation<\/strong><\/em> to meet the human right to water; corporations only have a negative obligation<\/strong><\/em> in this regard unless specific human rights obligations are imposed on the foreign investor as part of the BIT.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Significance<\/strong>: The case played an important role in bringing human rights norms to the forefront in BIT disputes. It also opened up the possibility of using BITs to hold TNCs accountable, provided the treaty imposes positive obligations on foreign investors. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the last few years, states have started reshaping their BITs by inserting provisions on investor accountability. Being a soft law language, they do not impose positive and binding obligations on foreign investors. They fall short of creating a framework to hold TNCs accountable under international law.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What lessons India needs to learn?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

The recent UN report has important takeaways for India\u2019s ongoing reforms in BITs. <\/span><\/p>\n

India\u2019s new Model BIT of 2016 contains provisions on investor obligations.\u00a0However, they\u00a0do not impose a binding obligation on the\u00a0TNC. <\/span><\/p>\n

India should impose positive and binding obligations<\/em><\/strong> on foreign investors, not just\u00a0for protecting human rights but also for imperative issues such as promoting public\u00a0health.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Role model:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0The Nigeria-Morocco BIT, which imposes binding obligations on foreign investors is a good example.\u00a0These reforms would help in harnessing\u00a0BITs to ensure the answerability of foreign\u00a0investors and creating a binding international legal framework to hold TNCs to account.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/span><\/b>: This post is based on the article “<\/span>Holding TNCs accountable<\/span><\/b>\u00a0” published in\u00a0<\/span>the Hindu\u00a0<\/span><\/b>on\u00a0<\/span>20th September 2021.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the news?\u00a0 As per the report published by the UN working group on \u2018human rights,\u00a0transnational corporations (TNCs) and other\u00a0businesses\u2019,\u00a0it is important for\u00a0states to ensure that their bilateral investment treaties\u00a0(BITs) are compatible with international human rights obligations.\u00a0 It emphasizes the accountability of TNCs in international law. Many a times questions about the TNCs accountability… Continue reading Holding TNCs accountable<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,9],"tags":[8778,9863,9864,2176],"class_list":["post-135644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-public","tag-important-international-institutions","tag-transnational-corporations","tag-un-human-rights-council","tag-united-nations","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704896303},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}