John Shpati
Professor Block
Midterm
It is not unrealistic to consider that multinationals can violate human rights. In Ecuador, for
example, Chevron’s oil extraction and mismanagement of toxic waste harmed the country’s
natural environment and the health and integrity of Ecuadorian communities. In reaction to the
damage caused by multinationals, states have had the challenge to protect their citizens and have
developed legal instruments to establish the responsibility of foreign entities for human rights
violations. Some states, like Ecuador, have legally established that any private entity, including
foreign companies, can be held responsible for human rights violations under domestic law and
in national courts. More recently, states have been discussing a potential human rights instrument
directly applicable to private entities.
Constitutions grant rights that the state must enforce. Many of these rights result from the
ratification of multilateral human rights treaties concluded under the auspices of the United
Nations, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and other
treaties concluded in regional frameworks, such as the African Charter of Human and People’s
Rights (ACHPR), and the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). Through these
international instruments, states assume the obligations to respect and guarantee people’s human
rights in its territories, as well as to adapt their legal systems and not to discriminate. The
obligation to respect human rights requires the state and its agents not to violate human rights,
“directly or indirectly, by any action or omission.” On the other hand, the obligation to guarantee
human rights “requires the State to take the necessary actions to ensure that all persons subject to
