The responsibility Multi-National Companies (MNC's) have toward human rights
ZHOU QING
Herzing University

The responsibility Multi-National Companies (MNC's) have toward human rights
The development of the world economy as a major driving force of globalization multinational companies, in particular, play an active role in the development of the economic development of the host country has been widely recognized by the international community, the role of multinational corporations on the economy to improve the enjoyment of human rights conditions has become the consensus of the people. However, the negative impact of the activities of transnational corporations or work for human rights has often been overlooked.
In the 1950s and 1970s, the United Fruit Company and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, involved in the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Guatemala and Chile scandal was revealed, causing the international community, especially the developing countries concerned about the activities of transnational corporations, and led to the development of countries expand movement multinationals nationalization. In addition, multinational companies are still developing countries, a large scale in grab natural resources, and corrosion of the activities of the government of the nation-state. In order to chase profits in global multinational companies also often in partnership with repressive governments engaged in large-scale violations of human rights activists, or the implementation of large-scale violations of human rights of these despotic regimes to be tolerated, support or help.
Some well-known multinational companies are accused of violating labor standards, violations of labor rights, including overtime pay, child labor and forced labor in violation of the provisions of the minimum wage, to prohibit the establishment of trade unions, gender discrimination, and dangerous working conditions. Some international famous brands, such as Nike, Disney, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., are because of the violation of labor rights by the prosecution. Multinational corporations for human rights violations, Ratner will be divided into three multinational companies as the government's agent implementation of human rights violations, the government or government agency complicity of multinational corporations and the implementation of human rights violations, three multinationals implementation of human rights violations as a conductor. For multinational companies are directly engaged in human rights violations, is generally easier to understand. Example, multinational companies use child labor in their factories or forced labor, multinational corporations, to the rivers, lakes and dumping of toxic and hazardous waste. But for multinational companies involved in the country of human rights violations, that countries complicity in human rights violations, it is more difficult to understand. In the field of criminal law, it is no stranger to the concept of accomplices. The company accomplice (corporate complicity) is a new concept in the field of international human rights. Global Compact Learning Forum held in Brazil, company representatives say the company complicity concept is the hardest to understand the concept of corporate executives, but also managers of most concern. With more and more companies have been accused government complicity in human rights violations; the company should bear the responsibility of human rights pressure is also growing. In fact, the multinationals can be described as a long history of human rights violations. The earliest multinational corporations, such as the British and Dutch East India Company, began in Asia, Africa and the Americas; abuse their power, subversion and destruction of the local government, the exploitation of the local people, to grab local resources. The British East India Company was also the opium trade in China, India and other Asian countries, a large number of serious harm to the health of the people of these countries. Professor Teem Ruska, even the British East India Company called "the most notorious companies in the world. Wickedness of these companies triggered consumers human rights protest movement of the early 17th century, the British people protest against the East India Company is engaged in the slave trade, as well as the 18th and 19th centuries, Massachusetts residents to boycott imported tea from the British East India Company. People. Rights are the content of the core values of American democracy. U.S. Multinationals in China "sweatshop" a clear departure from the values. Wal-Mart, for example, included in the concept of "respect for the individual," Wal-Mart's corporate culture, and through its "open-door", "shop-in-shop system", "management by walking around" and "sharing plan" to embody. Through the management of the corporate culture, the Wal-Mart to keep the staff enjoy the democratic values of American individualism, equality, freedom, and information sharing. However, in the Wal-Mart in accordance with the procurement of the lowest cost, lowest price sales "to supply chain extended to the process of overseas store sales of goods contaminated with cheap labor in developed countries," sweat ". Anti-sweatshop "movement in the mid-1990s of the last century, initiated by the Western civil society, like the U.S. multinational companies, such as Levi, Nike, Wal-Mart developed a corporate code of conduct, and accept the responsibility of the international community organizations" (SAI) "SA8000" (social responsibility standards), the global provider of corporate social responsibility standards, and the implementation of the unilateral ". The rights audits" behavior, Above Wal-Mart's practices, however, are largely forced or passive, on the one hand, in order to ensure a competitive advantage in the market, on the other hand to maintain their own social moral, to ease the pressure of public opinion. Moreover, "SA8000" is a moral requirement of the international community multinational enterprise does not constitute a violation of the law on mandatory constraints. Increasingly fierce by the end of the competition (race to the bottom， local suppliers and local governments interest-driven, making the civil society (especially in Western countries, civil society), external oversight and multinational Internal Oversight difficult to place. Moral constraints and interest-driven game, which from time to time to break through the former, thus, repeated episodes of "sweatshops" illness in the global supply chain. February 9, 2004, ranking 500 global multinationals a Wal-Mart was accused by the media to run sweatshops. The United States, "Washington Post," the real wages of workers in the front-page report of Wal-Mart's suppliers for 16.5 cents per hour (about 1.36 Yuan). Institutions to immediately investigate, the U.S. National Labor Committee issued a report accusing Wal-Mart suppliers in Dongguan, Guangdong Province of poor working conditions, withheld wages, forced overtime and other circumstances. In January 2012, the "New York Times" exposed the inhumane treatment of the poor working conditions and employees are Apple's major OEM manufacturers Falcon, a factory in southern China. Apple's China problem lies in its factories in China led to the death, on the one hand, the death of the Chinese workers, on the other hand is the death of the jobs in the United States. "Apple" sweatshops "events show that multinational corporations driven by profit is difficult rely on self-discipline to completely put an end to the phenomenon of "sweatshops" in China, and also shows the limitations of U.S. multinationals exporting democracy. Labor rights abuse has been a problem in the United States and Europe; these companies now is to shift production to low labor costs in developing countries, in order to reduce the price of the product. In an attempt to preserve itself, these European and American companies, suppliers to develop a Code of Conduct and to check compliance audit.
At present, both in the domestic or international jurisprudence in the West, multinational companies should bear the responsibility of human rights point of view has not yet been widely recognized, the negative impact of multinational corporations on human rights are often ignored by people. International human rights instruments are rarely mentioned in multinational corporations on human rights theory and empirical research rarely multinational companies as actors for the promotion and protection of human rights. The traditional view is that the government or state are the main actors of the violations of human rights and the development of modern human rights law for massive human rights violations of State or Government's response. Initiatives related to the promotion and protection of human rights as well as the investigation of human rights violations around the nation-state, political science, human rights, legal protection of human rights as well as human rights philosophy of the country as the primary actors in research, and even that only national commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights obligations, because the recognition of the rights and maintenance are considered purely public areas of the body (national) range. Although scholars called on to build multinational corporations human rights responsibility system, relevant international organizations and non-governmental organizations, including the United Nations, the OECD, including in unremitting efforts to this end have been, but to really establish multinationals human rights in international law level responsibility system is still a long way to go. After all, international law is the main legal norms to adjust the relationship between the national, multinational companies do not have the qualification of international law on the subject, like the country is not yet directly bear on the international human rights law obligations. Therefore, to promote the human rights responsibilities of multinational companies bear the primary measures still is to strengthen the supervision of the countries of the multinationals. States bear the primary responsibility for the promotion and protection of human rights, including ensuring that transnational corporations to respect and protect human rights. Either the home country or the host country, should take positive measures, through sound and improve domestic legislation, supervision and multinational companies to promote and protect human rights; be investigated for the behavior of multinational companies to abuse human rights responsibilities of transnational corporations and the victims relief. This is to promote multinational companies bear the most direct and effective human rights responsibilities.

Reference http://www.cqvip.com/QK/96790A/200818/27698832.html https://sites.google.com/site/laborgogo2010/
http://biweekly.hrichina.org/article/2386