From 10 to 27 June, 2014 the 26th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) takes place in Geneva/Switzerland. Among other things, UNHRC will discuss the adoption of a resolution to develop a legally binding instrument on the human rights conduct of Transnational Corporations (TNCs). Responding to this, the Dismantle Corporate Power Campaign calls for a full week of activities from June 23 to 27 to end corporate impunity and ongoing violations of laws and human rights through TNCs. During the week of mobilization – a collective effort of several international networks, social movements and Civil Society Organizations like FIAN International – different events and meetings to enforce justice for those affected by corporate violations and crimes will be organized. According to the campaign, disasters like the collapse of a factory burrying more than 1100 workers in Bangladesh are reason enough for the UNHRC to adopt the binding treaty.
June 16, 2014 | Dismantle Corporate Power Campaign
Open Call to Join the Week of Mobilization to Stop Corporate impunity at the UNHRC
#StopCorporateImpunity
Open call to join the
WEEK OF MOBILIZATION TO STOP CORPORATE CRIMES AND IMPUNITY
During the UNHRC 26th Session
23 – 27 June 2014
In Geneva (Switzerland) and in decentralized actions around the world
Social movements demand access to justice for those affected by corporate human rights violations and ecological crimes!
In June 2014, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will discuss the adoption of a resolution to establish a legally binding instrument to enforce binding rules regarding human rights and Transnational Corporations (TNCs).
As a result of ongoing violations of human rights by TNCs such as the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh that killed 1,132 factory (mostly female) workers, the 2012 Marikana massacre of 34 miners in South Africa, the ongoing destruction caused by Shell in Nigeria’s Ogoniland and by Chevron in the Ecuadorean Amazon as well as the human rights violations linked to the Cerrejon Coal mine in Colombia – along with countless others – the need for radical action to control the devastating violations by TNCs has never been more urgent.
In order to push the UNHRC to adopt this type of binding Treaty, a coalition of social movements, networks and civil society organizations is organizing a full week of mobilization.
The goal of the week of mobilization is not only to pressure the UNHRC on the issue of binding norms for TNCs but also to expose the global political and economic ‘Architecture of Impunity’ that has been protecting the operations of TNCs at the expense of human rights for decades through Investment Agreements (and arbitration tribunals such as World Bank’s ICSID), through the WTO, and a long history of IMF imposed structural adjustment programs now replicated in Europe through the Troika & Competitiveness Pact policies and a number of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), as well as bilateral FTAs such as NAFTA, FTA EU-Colombia, TTIP, TPP and TISA, among others.
In the face of intensifying and increasingly egregious corporate human rights violations and ecological crimes, impacted communities and social movements demand access to justice and a definitive end to the systematic impunity which prevails for transnational corporations.
The Week of Mobilization to Stop Corporate Crimes and Impunity will take place from 23 to 27 June 2014 in Geneva during the last week of the 26th session of the UNHRC, when the Council will be deciding on this initiative.
This week of activities represents an important convergence moment for social movements and Civil Society Organizations to collectively work for a more profound and effective system to defend human rights from corporate violations, especially the rights of those affected by the environmental crimes and other human rights violations of transnational corporations.
Co-convenors
International / Regional / National movements, networks or organizations outside of Swtizerland
Treaty Alliance, Campaign Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity, ESCR-net, Friends of the Earth International (FOEI), World March of Women, FIAN International, Transnational Institute, Franciscans International, Working Group on Investment in the Americas, Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos Democracia y Desarrollo (PIDHDD), Oidhaco (Oficina Internacional de Derechos Humanos – Acción Colombia), Social Movements for an Alternative Asia(SMAA), CADTM, ODG (Observatorio de la Deuda en la Globalización) Catalunya, OMAL (Observatorio de Multinacionales en América Latina), Ecologistas en Acción, Polaris Institute Canada, Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) – Global Economy Project, Alternative Information & Development Center (AIDC) South Africa, Col.lectiu RETS Catalunya, WoMin (Women in Mining) South Africa, Centre for Trade and Policy Development in Zambia, Tax Justice Network – Africa in Kenya, Jubilee South-Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development, Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) Philippines, SENTRO Trade Union Center Philippines, ATTAC Japan, Migrant Forum Asia, Transnational Migrant Platform, Platform of Filipino Migrants in Europe, Focus on the Global South, EU-ASEAN FTA Campaign Network
Swiss movements and organizations
Comité du Forum Social Lémanique, ATTAC Switzerland, Solidarités, Coordination Climat Justice Sociale, CETIM, L’Autre Syndicat, UNITERRE
Also available in: Spanish
More about the program of the Week of Mobilization, please look here.
The flyer of the Week of Mobilization is available here.
