Transnational corporations at their worst represent one of the most problematic faces of global neo-liberal capitalism. Their monopoly on certain economic activities makes it very hard to start any competence against them. Some transnational corporations’ income is way higher than some countries. According to Business Insider, Wallmart’s income for 2017 doubled that of Belgium. Moreover, they hold a great amount of power over regular governments. It is not uncommon for corporations to put pressure over unfavorable legislation, since that due to its multinational game they can play with the most lax and comfortable rules, forcing other countries towards it. Corporations’ support to socio-economic and human rights is usually present only in the rhetoric and symbolic levels. When faced with public pressure, changes are usually cosmetic and unimportant. It comes to mind the green-washing efforts from Coca-Cola which used green-painted labels on its plastic bottles and stated that they use a small percentage (that many could consider unacceptable) of recycled plastic. Transnational corporations also have committed egregious violations of socio-economic and human rights, such as the use of almost semi-slave labor or child labor, and worse. Some authors, such as Tausch and Puliano, have found that the penetration of transnational corporations into the economies leads to an increase in income inequality and unemployment, a reduction on the percentage of GDP devoted to social expenses, it carries huge environmental costs and in some cases even lowers life expectancy. Therefore, I believe it is imperative to reach a global agreement on a legal framework for transnational corporations. While we should not let out of the equation domestic legal structures, this could prove to be way less effective, for the multinational character of these corporations makes them evasive. Thus, a truly global effort to promote socio-economic rights could be a more interesting way to go.
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