INTRODUCTION
I was requested by Vivat International1 to read Investor Expectation on Human Rights: Performance for Mining Companies (CONSULTATION DRAFT)2 and where possible make some comments or give some inputs. Thank the Vivat International for the request and it is my honor to do the best I can as requested. After perusing this document, I could see the high and noble expectations of the mining investors or stockholders – the true and legal owners of thousands of gigantic transnational corporations operating in extractive industries around the globe frequently by destroying permanently the livelihood of the rural poor (rice fields of the tropical countries, protected rainforest etc) virtually without being afraid of transgressing any law. Investors, in short, expect that corporations should3 respect human rights and environmental laws when doing their extractive industries in the properties of rural communities in developing countries.
I was requested by Vivat International1 to read Investor Expectation on Human Rights: Performance for Mining Companies (CONSULTATION DRAFT)2 and where possible make some comments or give some inputs. Thank the Vivat International for the request and it is my honor to do the best I can as requested. After perusing this document, I could see the high and noble expectations of the mining investors or stockholders – the true and legal owners of thousands of gigantic transnational corporations operating in extractive industries around the globe frequently by destroying permanently the livelihood of the rural poor (rice fields of the tropical countries, protected rainforest etc) virtually without being afraid of transgressing any law. Investors, in short, expect that corporations should3 respect human rights and environmental laws when doing their extractive industries in the properties of rural communities in developing countries.
In reality, what has been witnessed by many is that corporations, it seems, including those that operate in mining sector, are above law or immune toward law. There have been countless cases of corporate crimes, yet almost no human being owning and running corporations has ever been legally accountable for these corporate crimes and suffice it to say, has ever been imprisoned. Those who do not know may ask: why? The answer is the corporations have the so-called THE CORPORATE VEIL. It is a corporate ingenuity designed to protect the investors, directors and managers and the legal personality of the corporation from being accountable for the crimes they perpetrate. Due to the problem with the corporate veil, expectations of the investors laid out in this document will remain as a dream that will never come true. This article is an attempt to show the ugliness of corporate veil and the serious problems it poses for humanity.
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