COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
\nSixty-first session
\nItems 10 and 16 of the provisional agenda<\/p>\n
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
\nREPORT OF THE SUB-COMMISSION ON THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION
\nOF HUMAN RIGHTS<\/p>\n
Responsibilities of transnational corporations with regard to human rights:
\nOverseas corporations of the Republic of Korea
\n1. We have noted with great interest the debates at the United Nations, particularly at the Sub-
\nCommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, on the question of the
\nresponsibilities of transnational corporations with regard to human rights. We look forward to
\nfinding that the relevant issues will be well identified in the report of the High Commissioner for
\nHuman Rights, which is to be prepared further to paragraph (b) of Commission on Human
\nRights decision 2004\/116. Herewith we want to highlight the issue of human rights of laborers
\nemployed by the Korean corporations operating in foreign countries.
\n2. The overseas investments of Korean corporations commenced in 1968, and have sharply
\nincreased since the 1990s. For thirty-five years, from 1968 to 2003, the number of cases of
\noverseas investments was 18,068 in total, and the capital invested amounted to 42.2 billion
\ndollars into 150 countries. The Korean corporations have invested mostly in the Asian market,
\nwhich accounts for 67% of their overseas investments and 40% of the capital invested.
\n3. Among others, the manufacturing industry including the textile occupies the greatest part of
\nthe overseas investments of Korean corporations, which accounts for 62% of total investments
\nand 53.2% of the capital invested. Since the middle of the 1980s, overseas investments for the
\nmanufacturing industry have rapidly increased in order for the corporations to secure a
\ncompetitive price by making use of cheap labor in foreign locations.
\n4. As we have seen, many Korean enterprises, working as transnational corporations, have been
\ninvesting in labor-intensive areas and utilizing local labor forces in the invested country.
\nAccordingly, there came a need to examine the impact of these corporations over the invested
\ncountry and the local laborers, and civic groups in and outside Korea have worked on the reports
\nbased on the field investigation focusing on whether the overseas corporations of the Republic of
\nKorea operate in line with the national laws and the international labor standards.
\n5. The investigations revealed that a number of Korean corporations operating in foreign
\ncountries ignore local cultures and do not respect generally recognized human rights and labor
\nstandards; local laborers are deprived of freedom of association and often subjected to back
\nwages, forced overtime work or sexual harassment. It was also found that local laborers are
\nconfronted with a threat of factory closure or transfer, or other forms of unemployment when
\nthey urge the employers to observe the relevant international labor standards.
\n6. The transgressions of this kind are not only limited to the cases of overseas Korean
\ncorporations. Under the banner of neo-liberalism, business actors such as transnational
\ncorporations have become more powerful than ever, in reverse, with growing dependence on
\nforeign capital it makes harder for a State to regulate transnational corporations and the flow of
\ncapital. In this regard, we stress again that full efforts and immediate actions should be done by
\ninternational society, for instance, at the level of the United Nations in order to address a myriad
\nof human rights violations committed by transnational corporations, and that there should be
\nguidelines, norms or regulations, which are universally recognized, so that transnational
\ncorporations and related business enterprises comply with international human rights law
\nincluding international labor standards.
\n7. The responsibility of each government is also important above all things. In the Republic of
\nKorea, the government scarcely grasps the current working conditions of local laborers
\nemployed by the overseas Korean corporations albeit with the fact that there have been around
\n180,0001 local laborers in overseas locations of the Korean corporations. Meanwhile, in 2001,
\nthe International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF), headquartered in
\nBrussels, indicted a Korean company Choi & Shin in Guatemala for a grave violation of the
\nOECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The Korean government, however, has never
\nbeen made clear what measures were taken to redress this case.
\n8. If there are no administrative or legal remedies available in the concerned country against the
\ntransnational corporations over the human rights violations, their home country should hold them
\nlegally responsible. That is, the Korean government should supervise the practices and activities
\nof the Korean corporations operating in other countries, and make sure that those corporations
\nabide by the relevant standards with respect to human rights, including labor rights and the
\nenvironment. In this regard, we urge that each government, including the Republic of Korea,
\nshould recognize and effectively implement the principles set forth in the Norms on the
\nresponsibilities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises with regard to human
\nrights, which was approved in August 2003 by the Sub-Commission, and provide appropriate
\nawareness-raising programs for the employers of transnational corporations on the Norms and
\nother relevant local or international human rights laws.
\n9. Lastly we want to draw the attention of the Commission to the situation that there exist many
\nlaws and practices adversely affecting the rights of laborers working in the Export Free Zones
\nwhich are designed mostly in developing countries to give an investment incentive to
\ntransnational corporations. In these circumstances, the human rights violations in the Export Free
\nZones are more or less permitted and abetted. However, there should be no exception in terms of
\nprotecting and promoting human rights which are inalienable. The laws and regulations over the
\nExport Free Zones should be in accordance with international human rights standards.
\n10. The international standards on the responsibilities of transnational corporations with regard
\nto human rights, still need to be strengthened in terms of implementation as well as standardsetting.
\nTransnational corporations tend to disturb the continued efforts of international society to
\nmonitor or curb the adverse impact of transnational corporations on human rights, and some host
\ncountries are reluctant to involve in the transnational corporation\u2019s human rights violations. In
\nthis regard, we hope that the Commission will take further active initiatives in response to the
\nhuman rights violations of transnational corporations. And we recommend that the Commission
\nannually request the High Commissioner for Human Rights to compile and formally submit a
\nreport on the result of substantial investigations over the cases of human rights violations by
\ntransnational corporations.
\n—–
\n1 The number is estimated assuming that on the average ten laborers were employed per one case of rseas
\ninvestment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS Sixty-first session Items 10 and 16 of the provisional agenda ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS REPORT OF THE SUB-COMMISSION ON THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-un-reports-on-republic-of-korea"],"yoast_head":"\n