A/HRC/21/48 paramilitary groups).30 According to information received, journalists who report on environmental issues and the activities of mining companies have also been targeted. C. Transnational corporations and other businesses 49. In its resolution 18/11, the Human Rights Council mandated the Special Rapporteur to provide information on human rights issues relating to transnational corporations and other business enterprises regarding environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes (para. 3 (a)). In this regard, the Special Rapporteur is gravely concerned at the practice by transnational corporations of using private security companies to guard key geostrategic sites, and their suppression of legitimate social protest against the unsound disposal of hazardous substances. 50. The Special Rapporteur wishes to remind States and companies alike of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework, endorsed by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 17/4, that rests on the different but complementary obligations of States and corporations to uphold international human rights standards. While States have a primary duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business enterprises, corporations have the responsibility to respect human rights, including by identifying, preventing and mitigating adverse human rights impacts linked to their operations. Both parties have a role to play in supporting access by victims to effective remedies, both judicial and non-judicial. D. Militarization of extractive industries 51. The report (S/2011/738) of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo31 documents the militarization of extractive industries, the illicit exploitation of natural resources and profiteering from a country’s mineral sector in order to finance military operations, resulting in environmental degradation, internal displacement, forced labour, health inequities and a decline in livelihoods. 52. The Special Rapporteur encourages more in-depth analysis of the extent to which conflict around the globe is related to the extractive industries sector and of the profit and plunder that diverts a country’s economic wealth from the citizenry, denying them their right to benefit from their own natural resources. It is certain that in a climate of violent conflict and disregard for human rights, sound disposal of hazardous substances and safety protocols on the handling of such substances are more likely not to be observed. In such contexts, women and children are usually the most affected. V. Normative framework A. Environment conventions 53. The sound management of hazardous chemicals and wastes is addressed globally by three legally-binding conventions: the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants; the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of 30 31 14 See Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (A/HRC/19/55). The United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo was established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1533 (2004).