Vem har ansvar för de mänskliga rättigheterna? - En kvalitativ studie av ansvar hos statliga och icke-statliga aktörer inom utvinningsindustrin i Guatemala

Abstract

As a result of the globalization, the power and influence of multinational corporations have increased significantly in recent years. The presence of these corporations can have a major impact on the communities in which they operate. Many of the disagreements connected to these multinational corporations are connected to the extractive industry. In recent years criminalization of and attacks on human rights defenders and indigenous people have increased significantly. Latin America is now considered the region with the highest murder rates of human rights defenders in the world. In states with inadequate legal systems like Guatemala, many actors mainly from the civil society have raised the question if not corporations do possess responsibilities for the protection of the human rights. Based on the issues concerning the responsibilities connected to human rights in the extractive industry in Guatemala, this paper aims to analyse how the responsibility of human rights can be viewed and interpreted by the three key actors: state, company and civil society, and it will examine what these actors are doing to protect the human rights. Through a qualitive content analysis of text material from the three actors, the conclusion of this study is that it is difficult to assign responsibilities of human rights to non-state actors due to the special legal capacities that the state possesses. To understand how to assign the responsibility to protect human rights to other actors, further research is therefore of high importance.