Corporations and Human Rights? An oxymoron?

Sometimes we consumers think that corporations are just large entities out there that serve our consumption needs. Not only do they cater to our needs but they also provide jobs and keep the economy going. True; they do all these things. BUT corporations are also conglomerates that provide filter for our policies in this country as well as funnels through which the global economy operates. So what's wrong with that, one may ask?

More than we dare to think about. Human Rights Watch in conjunction with NYU School of Law's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice recently conducted an investigation and published a report on their website concerning business practices and the effect on human rights around the world. Here is the actual Human Rights Watch article entitled Business: Rights at Risk in the Global Economy. The full report can be found in pdf form on the CHRGI's website under "Full Report".

Corporations are entities that are sometimes given the rights of "individuals" and yet when they create problems or disregard the effects they have on individuals around the globe, all of a sudden they refuse to become liable or responsible for these problems. I think if they demand to be given the rights akin to an individual, they should also be held accountable as such and accept the due consequences when they mess up.

For the sake of profit, often individuals - particularly those who have no power or are "marginalized" as some would put it - are the ones who suffer the most. We often think that it's violence, poverty, diseases, or natural disasters that create suffering for these people; but the underlying causes of suffering can also be attributed to economic inabilities or what I think of as economic oppression by these corporate giants who are eager to calculate their profits at the end of every year.

We must raise our awareness and realize that the U.S. is a part of this - the government that caters to special interest groups and allows social welfare policy to be filtered through the lens of corporation and business elites, the government that is so fragmented that it cannot bring to light these issues and do something about them, and the capitalist influence and consumerism that hold us captive and play a large part in feeding the increasing inequality between rich and poor not just abroad but in the U.S. as well.

And for what profit, really? A well-oiled global economy that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer, and leaves those in the middle either running to catch up with the rich or running to stay ahead of the poor? Is that the sort of future we want to leave our children?