The status of commercial companies in international human rights law is controversial. Despite efforts to subject them to legal obligations in this field, they still cannot be held accountable for human rights violations. Companies have a standing before a few international courts, but only one international human rights court – the European Court of Human Rights. Surprisingly though, they can be applicants but never respondents. Even though this has been the reality for several decades now, it still raises a lot of concerns among academics. The Court itself justifies its decisions very sparingly. Meanwhile the scope of protection for companies constantly increases through its jurisprudence. Some rights, originally clearly designed to protect human beings, today apply to corporations as well.

商业公司在国际人权法中的地位是有争议的。尽管努力使他们承担这一领域的法律义务，但仍然无法追究他们侵犯人权的责任。公司在几个国际法院有席位，但只有一个国际人权法院——欧洲人权法院。但令人惊讶的是，他们可以是申请人，但永远不会是受访者。尽管这已经成为现实几十年了，但它仍然引起了学术界的很多担忧。法院本身非常谨慎地为其决定辩护。同时，通过判例法，对公司的保护范围也在不断扩大。一些最初明确旨在保护人类的权利，今天也适用于公司。