Week of Mobilization to #StopCorporateAbuse with a #BindingTreaty

Timed to coincide with the UN Member State negotiations to establish a legally binding instrument to regulate activities by Transnational Corporations, the Treaty Alliance mobilizes in and out Palais des Nations and calls for action.

The second session of the UN Intergovernmental Open-ended Working Group (IGWG) towards a Treaty on Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and Other Business Enterprises (OBEs) with Respect to Human Rights kicked off this week amid international mobilization. Under the heading #StopCorporateAbuse, the Treaty Alliance will bring the voices of communities facing human rights abuses by Transnational Corporations to the UN Human Rights Council.

Commenting on the UN IGWG second session, Stefano Prato, SID’s Managing Director, says: “This will be a historic opportunity to ensure that the provisions of the future Treaty reaffirm the centrality, indivisibility and inviolability of human rights and strengthen the accountability of states as duty-bearers, including with respect to their extraterritorial obligations (ETOs). The current hegemonic and homogenizing form of economic globalization and its vicious process of economic concentration require new regulatory frameworks to stop corporate impunity and ensure effective access to justice and remedy for all those affected by abusive practices by TNCs”.

As echoed by the Treaty Alliance’s latest statement, there are growing threats and attacks on human rights defenders working to hold companies accountable when human rights abuses occur. Investigation of and punishment for the perpetrators are indeed two of the most imperative demands by civil society. “In addition to substantive human rights protections, the legally binding instrument on TNCs-OBEs must contain provisions that enhance a protection regime for human rights defenders and whistle blowers,” reads the statement.

As a member of the Treaty Alliance, the Society for International Development rejects any attempt by corporation to directly or indirectly influence the process and calls for a legally binding instrument that is state-led and builds on the primacy and indivisibility of human rights. This is essential from a political and governance viewpoint to preserve the integrity and the independence of the public policy space and process, and properly distinguish between stakeholders pursuing their private and profitable interests, duty bearers holding obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights, and right-holders and all those public-benefit civil society organizations and movements that are their expression.

For the press kit and live updates click here

For social media follow #BindingTreaty #StopCorporateAbuse

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Treaty Alliance has been working together towards a legally binding instrument since 2013, when it first released a series of demands, including the passage of a UN Human Rights Council Resolution to establish an IGWG with a mandate to develop the treaty. http://treatymovement.com/

The first session of the IGWG (July 2015) was acknowledged by the Treaty Alliance as a space where “civil society, expert panelists and most States engaged constructively in the negotiations, despite intense EU efforts to derail the talks”.