State Duty to Protect Human Rights: The Necessity of Acceptance of Corporate Criminal Responsibility for Human Rights Violations in National Legal Systems

Ascending role and potential of corporations and financial institutions, specifically transnational corporations in today world in one side, and their influence on affairs which were previously were considered as the sole competence of states in the other, have provoked serious human rights concerns about corporate human rights’ violations. In order to respond to said concerns, the sate duty to protect human rights against third parties’ interference (including corporations) has been recognized by international human rights law. Therefore, by employing all appropriate measure particularly legal initiatives, states have duty to battle human rights violations. Unfortunately, review of different national legal systems reveals that criminal law, as one of the most important parts of national legal system has not been properly utilized in order to fulfill the state duty to protect human rights. The present article endeavor to prove that acceptance of corporate criminal liability, criminalization of corporate violations of, at least, the most fundamental human rights and also take advantage of criminal law measures are inevitable for convenient fulfillment of state duty to protect of human rights.