In the twenty-first century, questions of corporate conduct in relation to human rights have come to the forefront of public attention. Globalization has brought multinational companies in closer contact with people in many countries, often countries where the state does not live up to ideals or legal obligations of protecting the human rights of their populations. The issues have reached the intergovernmental level of attention and action. It suffices here to refer to the UN Global Compact initiative launched by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000 and the current United Nations process of establishing norms related to companies’ conduct in relation to human rights led by Professor John Ruggie. Six out of ten Global Compact principles address human rights. At the same time as companies’ activities have come in closer contact with people, increased use of market economy solutions through institutional investment has brought more citizens into closer contact with ownership of multinational companies. Pension funds and government funds have grown, and invest much of their stakeholders’ or beneficiaries’ money in listed multinational corporations. Thus people in many countries are linked with human rights violations in other countries. Such links can be seen or felt as issues of complicity in corporate wrongdoing.

Several institutional investors such as pension funds, especially responsible private funds and government funds have established policies and practices to handle issues of corporate involvement which they find unethical. Basically, there are three main alternatives: (1) avoid investment in certain industries because of characteristics of the industry as such, (2) avoid investment in companies that through their conduct violate norms that the investor wants to uphold, or (3) engage directly or indirectly with specific companies with an aim to make them change their conduct or line of production. These alternatives can also be combined. None of them are clearly always best, or most ethical. And they can easily conflict and create tensions between activists and investment managers.