Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations Of Home States To Regulate The Transnational Corporations

It is common for transnational corporations to violate human rights overseas,but it is difficult for victims to seek relief.On one hand,most host States are developing countries and do not have the economic and technical capabilities to effectively regulate transnational corporations;on the other hand,transnational corporations and their home States share various interests and therefore,home States lack the willingness to regulate their transnational corporations.In this context,the path of extraterritorial human rights obligations of home States to regulate transnational corporations is proposed.Case analysis method,comparative research method,historical research method and legal hermeneutics research method are applies in this dissertation.By introducing the Chevron Ecuador environmental pollution case,this article first explains the advantages and problems of home States' extraterritorial human rights obligations to regulate their transnational corporations and clarifies its connotation.Then it analyzes the theoretical basis of home States' extraterritorial human rights obligations to regulate transnational corporations and sorts out the relevant legal sources so as to support the argument.Finally,it concludes and analyzes the practices of major home States to regulate the extraterritorial behaviors of their transnational corporations,and provides guidance for all home States.Extraterritorial jurisdiction theory,State responsibility theory,the obligation of international cooperation in human rights and the principle of non-harm provide theoretical basis for the extraterritorial human rights obligations of home States to regulate transnational corporations.The extraterritorial jurisdiction theory means that the application scope of international human rights conventions can be extended beyond the territory.As long as a State has de facto authority or effective control over regions or individuals,it constitutes extraterritorial jurisdiction and the State should fulfill its corresponding human rights responsibilities,which provides the basis for the home States to regulate the extraterritorial behaviors of transnational corporations.According to the theory of State responsibility,the behavior of transnational corporations that implement the elements of government power or under the command and control of the home States should be regarded as State behavior.Therefore,the home States are obligated to regulate these transnational corporations not to violate human rights outside their own territory.The obligation to foresee also means that home States should take the initiative to take reasonable measures to prevent the extraterritorial human rights violations by the operations of domestic transnational corporations that may be foreseen.The obligation of international cooperation in human rights requires that States cooperate to jointly solve the problems that hinder the enjoyment of human rights for all people.There is no territorial restriction in this obligation.Therefore,cooperation of home States to solve the problem of human rights violations by transnational corporations in the host States is also due to the international cooperation obligations of human rights.The principle of non-harm means that the States cannot use or allow private use of its territory to harm other countries.Therefore,the home States have prohibitive and other regulatory obligations for activities of transnational corporations to use their territories that harm the human rights of other countries.Numerous international normative documents provide a wealth of legal sources for extraterritorial human rights obligations of home States to regulate transnational corporations,including human rights treaties and other reports of the United Nations,ILO laws,instruments of regional institutions such as America and Europe,and Draft Articles on State Liability for International Unlawful Acts,Maastricht Principles,OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises,etc.Although some documents are not yet legally binding on this issue,its soft-law value cannot be ignored,and it has become an important auxiliary source for demonstrating extraterritorial human rights obligations of home States to regulate transnational corporations.Home States have adopted legislative,judicial,and administrative measures to regulate its own transnational corporations,and provide supports for extraterritorial obligations of home States to regulate transnational corporations through their practices.The innovation of this dissertation lies in its comprehensive analysis of the theoretical basis for extraterritorial obligations of home States to regulate transnational corporations through their practices.In addition to the extraterritorial jurisdiction theory,it introduces the State responsibility theory,human rights international cooperation obligations,and the principle of non-harm to provide for stronger theoretical support.Through the exploration of general comments of the United Nations treaty bodies and country-specific concluding observations,it provides for systematic soft-law research on this issue.It provides a practical reference for the home States to undertake the extraterritorial human rights obligations to regulate transnational corporations.