Other Forms of Punishment of Human Rights Violations: The Case of Foreign Direct Investment

Human rights protection mechanisms are based on the state’s commitment to respect, protect and/or promote a series of rights. When one speaks about human rights violations’ punishments, the first image that comes to mind is the execution of human rights court rulings. However, there are other less explored informal mechanisms that generate negative consequences (“punishments”) after human rights violations. There are actors who react to human rights violations in a non-coordinated but systematic way. This paper addresses the following question: Do multinational corporations punish or reward human rights violations? To answer this question, I first discuss the literature analyzing the consequences of human rights violations on foreign direct investment (FDI). Second, I examine the effect of human rights violations on FDI inflows between 2000 and 2011 and present descriptive data illustrating the past five-year trend.