A/HRC/28/65
(TNCs)37 and international financial institutions (IFIs) has led to a marked change in the
way in which the principles of territoriality intersect with international human rights
standards.
39.
Within the food and agriculture sector, approximately ten corporations control and
monopolize the commercial seed and global pesticide markets, as well as food retailers.38 In
addition to their financial power, TNCs significantly influence law and policymaking
processes both at the international and national level.39 Similarly, IFIs exercise considerable
influence over national decision-making in relation to food and agricultural policies. Many
developing countries are compelled to implement projects that jeopardize economic, social,
and cultural rights in return for economic and financial aid. In recent decades, there have
been significant efforts to alter the policy approach undertaken by IFIs, especially the
World Bank, in relation to supporting development projects that have a harmful effect on
human rights and the environment. Moreover, bilateral, and regional foreign trade
agreements have facilitated the privatization, deregulation and growth of extractive
industries around the globe, a development that has had significant impacts on food security
and health. Globalization has highlighted and exacerbated socioeconomic disparities
throughout the world, with the result that global social inequality is not only expressed in
terms of inter-State justice, but as implicating human rights obligations as well. 40 States are
often placed in a precarious situation as a result of dubious corporate activities. Developing
countries are particularly vulnerable, as in an attempt to attract foreign investors they accept
trade rules that adversely impact agricultural policies and follow growth-oriented economic
policies to achieve short-term political and budgetary benefits.
40.
Development-induced displacement is an increasingly widespread phenomenon with
devastating impact. An estimated 15 million people each year are forced to relocate and
resettle as a result of such interventions. 41 Despite some of the more recent efforts to
highlight land dispossession, as yet global institutions have been unable to discourage the
practices and processes that undermine land rights, prevent equitable access and establish
the context for large and small-scale displacements.42 The expanding mining sector has
contributed to strong economic growth in some countries, with mining and oil concessions
dramatically increasing in countries. The industry has however also generated social
conflict in many States, particularly in rural areas, with mining activities coming into direct
competition with small-scale agriculture. Indigenous peoples are particularly vulnerable as
they are often forced to leave their land and sources of livelihood. A lack of engagement
37
38
39
40
41
42
12
See Global Trends, Corporate clout 2013: Time for responsible capitalism – Executive summary.
Available from www.globaltrends.com/knowledge-center/features/shapers-and-influencers/190corporate-clout-2013-time-for-responsible-capitalism.
See www.econexus.info/sites/econexus/files/Agropoly_Econexus_BerneDeclaration_wideformat.pdf.
See interim report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights
and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, E/CN.4/2006/97; Jennifer Westaway,
“Globalization, Transnational Corporations and Human Rights – A New Paradigm”, International
Law Research, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2012), p. 63 ff.
Thomas Pogge, World Poverty and Human Rights: Cosmopolitan Responsibilities and Reforms
(Cambridge, Polity Press, 2002).
Penny Green, Kristian Lasslett and Angela Sherwood, “Enclosing the commons: predatory capital and
forced eviction in Papua New Guinea and Burma” in The Routledge Handbook on Migration and
Crime (Abingdon, Routledge, 2014).
Lea Brilmayer and William J. Moon, “Regulating Land Grabs: Third Party States, Social Activism,
and International Law”, in Rethinking Food Systems (2014); Saturnino M. Borras Jr. and Jennifer
Franco, “Towards a broader view of the politics of global land grab: rethinking land issues, reframing
resistance”, ICAS Working Paper Series No. 001.
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