The Moral Responsibilities of Multinational Corporations (MNCs)

In both America and South Africa, the schism between Africans and their government worsened. Even though both nations gained independence from Britain, the colonial mindset was persistent and continued to victimize other races. Despite the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery, the United States’ Congress passed the Jim Crow Laws. In other words, these laws ensured that “blacks . . . had more in common with African-American slaves . . . than with the [Caucasian businessmen]” (Bausum 2012, 19). Similarly, South Africa’s National Party in 1948 legalized apartheid – South Africa’s brand of segregation. More specifically, these laws isolated races into separate buildings and enforced racial purity. To make matters worse, segregation ensnared coloured people in poverty by depriving them of quality government services. For instance, in both countries intermarriage was a crime. Also, the African-American garbage men received insufficient salaries that “[were] based on their garbage routes” rather than an hourly wage (Bausum 2012, 14). In

Racism, discrimination and degradation faced by Blacks and other ethnic minorities under the apartheid system was not unlike the segregation and intimidation faced by African-Americans in the Jim Crow south. Jim Crow system of segregation that kept Blacks from fully participating in public and civic activities and relegated African-Americans to substandard conditions at work, school and even in the home. Blacks in South Africa were under the clutches of an overt, national policy of racism and segregation implemented by the country’s highest level of government. Civil and human rights abuses of Blacks in South Africa at the hand of the country’s white minority occurred long before apartheid officially began, but the system’s official start brought strict, sweeping laws such as the rule that all persons in South Africa to be categorized as white, Black, colored and Indian, without exception. Like in the U.S. during Jim Crow, Blacks and whites were not allowed to marry and sexual relations between members of different races was a criminal offense.

Thesis Statement: Apartheid may have been a horrible era in South African history, but only so because the whites were forced to take action against the outrageous and threatening deeds of the blacks in order to sustain their power.

Multinational Corporation - business enterprise with manufacturing, sales, or service subsidiaries in one or more foreign countries, also known as a transnational or international corporation. These corporations originated early in the 20th century and proliferated after World War II.

Black South Africans living in South Africa, had to endure fifty years of oppression and racial discrimination. Apartheid was a policy implemented by the South African government across South Africa. It was used to control the Black South African population since they make up the majority of the population. The government created Apartheid, due to their fear that the Black population will overthrow them. Living as a Black South African meant that they had to live a more oppressive and undesirable life.

Corporations can be large or small but they all have some sort of ethical impact on their employees, shareholders, customers, community, and surrounding environments. Richard DeGeorge writes, “We can speak of corporations having moral responsibilities to act in certain ways, and they are morally responsible for the consequences of their actions on people.” (p. 200). Large corporations are comprised of the board of directors, management, and their workers. They also deal with suppliers, customers, and have competitors. This essay will examine the moral responsibilities within a corporation.

South African Apartheid was the government enforced policy of extreme segregation and discrimination which lasted from 1948 to 1991; this affected both Black and Asian citizens of South Africa and deprived them of their basic human rights. Before Apartheid, South Africa already had conditions that were comparable to segregation in the United States: there were laws restricting voting, buying land, and jobs. The National Party in South Africa is the all-white government party that gained power through white supremacy and white nationalism, and they believed that they had a God-given right to control Africa. The implementation of Apartheid by the government of South Africa was a disastrous decision that negatively affected non-European citizens

Apartheid consists of a bountiful amount of issues and disagreements. Racism was arduous as it created many restrictions for specific people. These limitations included amount of land, certain places for visiting, and regulated education. In America, many Africans had to follow these constraints as the Americans had considered themselves as leaders. Furthermore, these restraints developed a major race discrimination between the Americans and Africans. As a result, this led to many crimes such as murder, robbery, and

South Africa has long been known for the racist policies that were implemented by the government during apartheid. In reality, many of these policies were introduced before apartheid, and thus South Africa today is affected by centuries rather than just a few decades of racism. The racial practice and policies of the nineteenth century that developed out of South Africa’s mineral revolution were then carried into the apartheid era, and are of particular importance for black South African families. The desires of the white population to have sufficient labour and to monitor it while reserving urban areas for whites occasioned the government to create restrictive laws starting in the late nineteenth century which were carried into apartheid. These laws and practices broke apart the South African black family and has resulted in enduring consequences for black families and South Africa.

The national party achieved power in South Africa in 1948 the government, usually comprised on “white people”, and racially segregated the country by a policy under the Apartheid legislation system. With this new policy in place the black South African people were forced to live segregated from the white people and use separate public facilities. There were many attempts to overthrow the Apartheid regime, it persisted to control for almost 50 years.

One large problem that occurred because of apartheid and was the cause of many protests was from 1961-1994, 3.5 million colored people and their families were forced out of their homes while their property was sold for very low prices to white farmers. This was just one example of events that were completely unfair to the colored population. Nelson Mandela was the person who stopped these acts from happening. In 1994, Mandela became the country’s first colored president. Instead of trying to make the people who put him into jail for 27 years suffer in consequences, he embraced them and used peace to unite everyone as equals, and not oppressing the people who had oppressed him for most of his life. Apartheid was a very rough time for anyone who lived in South Africa before Nelson Mandela and his peace helped to stop it.

The government of South Africa played a huge role in apartheid. During apartheid the government of South Africa worked to take away the citizenship of the Blacks with the laws (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). “Social rights, political rights, educational opportunities, and economic status were all determined by the group a person belonged to” (History of South Africa in the apartheid era). Black people were denied by the government the option of appealing courts against forced removals (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Since the government had established laws prohibiting social contact between the races separate schools and public places were set up for the different races (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). The government even tried to segregate churches in 1957 but failed (Pascoe, 80)

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

The population of South Africa were segregated into categouries of Coloured, Black, White and Indian. Black South African lives were affected in many different ways and it still is today. Apartheid meant great hardship, it meant that Black people were unable to live a reasonable life. All natural civil rights were taken away from them. Public beaches, drive-in cinema parking spaces, graveyards, parks and public toilets are just a few things that were racially segregated. You can say that the church was on of few places races could mix without breaking the law. (Wikipedia, 2013)

This essay’s thesis is that there is currently a lack legal apparatuses that can be used to hold transnational corporations liable for human rights violations; specifically violation of labour rights. This paper seeks to discuss various legal instruments that are applicable to transnational corporations and human rights violations. It will also provide theoretical framework for understanding the nature of human rights and legal framework of labour laws. This essay will address the following questions: What is the legal status of transnational corporations? How can current legal apparatuses be used to hold transnational corporations accountable for human rights violations? This essay will also consider the case of human right violations by Nike Corporation in order to show that external pressures can produce development and accountability.