This article analyses the institutionalisation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of resource extraction in Colombia and the use of human rights language in this normative project. We argue that "rights-based" CSR constructs a new "public–private reason of state" that has disciplinary implications for Colombian society and might contribute to destabilising existing regimes of rights enforcement. Rather than reconciling human rights imperatives and market forces, we conclude, CSR institutionalisation might best be conceptualised as the result of powerful groups strategically harnessing the forces of globalisation.