Companies have an enormous impact on people’s lives and the communities in which they operate.
Often the impact is positive: job posts are created, new technologies improve living conditions, and investment in the community translates into real benefits for the people living there.
However, unfortunately there are numerous examples where businesses take advantage of rather inefficient or poorly applied national regulations with devastating consequences for people and communities.
States are responsible for protecting human rights. However, many fail to do so, especially with regard to business activities, either due to a lack of capacity, dependence on the company as an investor, or blatant corruption.
Companies that operate across borders often commit serious abuse, such as forced labour or the eviction of communities from their lands with their forced resettlement in other places. Traditional ways of life are destroyed as land and water supplies are contaminated.
* Source: Amnesty International. www.amnesty.org/es