BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS / Šturma, Mozetic (eds)

pricing policies) to ensure continuation of enjoyment of economic and social rights by population. The provision of goods and services essential to enjoyment of the Covenant rights should not be made conditional on the ability to pay, for instance, the private good-quality education being made a privilege available only to a wealthiest segment of the society while the mainstream public education would not meet the minimum educational standards. Therefore, States should retain at all times the obligation to regulate private actors to ensure that the services they provide are accessible to all, are adequate, are regularly assessed in order to meet the changing needs of the public and are adapted to those needs. 53 The obligation to fulfil refers to steps taken by the State parties to facilitate and promote enjoyment of the Covenant rights, including provision of goods and services essential to such enjoyment. It may include steps such as progressive taxation schemes or seeking business cooperation in implementing the Covenant rights. The General Comment examines in detail extraterritorial obligations of States under the Covenant concerning corporate sector. 54 Acknowledging a significant increase of activities of transnational corporations, growing investment and trade flows between countries and emergence of global supply chains, the Committee confirms that the State parties’ obligations under the Covenant vis-a-vis the corporate sector do not stop at the national borders. The obligations of States under the Covenant are expressed without any restrictions linked to territory or jurisdiction. The extraterritorial obligations arise when a State party may influence situations located outside its territory, consistent with the limits imposed by international law, by controlling the activities of corporations domiciled in its territory and/or under its jurisdiction, and thus may contribute to the effective enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights outside its national territory. 55 This may also include offering of incentives, such as provisions in public contracts favouring business entities that have put in place effective due diligence mechanisms, or introducing direct obligations for companies, such as a duty to report on their policies and procedures to ensure respect for human rights. State parties should provide those whose rights have been violated in the context of business activities with an access to remedy and should ensure corporate accountability for such violations. In this context, States have to address the numerous challenges, such as “hiding behind the corporate veil”, 56 difficulty to access information and evidence to substantiate the claim and lack of collective redress mechanisms. The General comment No. 16 (2013) on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights 57 confirms State parties’ obligations regarding 53 Ibid., paragraph 22. 54 The General Comment distinguishes between extraterritorial obligation to protect, extraterritorial obligation to respect and extraterritorial obligation to fulfil Covenant rights. It suggests range of specific measures recommended for State parties to meet these obligations. 55 Ibid., paragraph 28. 56 The situations where the parent company seeks to avoid lability for the acts of the subsidiary even when it would have been in a position to influence its conduct. 57 The General comment No. 16 (2013) on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights, CRC/C/GC/16, 17 April 2013.

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