This brief published by the South Centre discusses possible approaches to addressing States’ obligations under a prospective international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises.The duty of the State to protect against human rights violations by private entities and to ensure remedies for victims of such violations is well established under international human rights law. Yet, given the globalized and rapidly evolving economic realities driven by multinational corporations, individual States often face limitations in their ability to respond to human rights violations by private entities and to exercise their sovereign right to regulate. A prospective Instrument could serve as an opportunity to address these limitations and enhance international cooperation in this area.