From October 14 to 18, 2019, the intergovernmental working group to elaborate a binding instrument to regulate transnational business enterprises and other business enterprises with respect to human rights (OEIGWG) will convene for the 5thtime in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The new briefing paper “Extractive Industries and Women’s Rights: Between partnerships and regulation – two diverging ways to tackle the problem at the UN”, published by AWID, DAWN, Global Policy Forum and Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung presents how women are disproportionately affected by negative social and environmental impacts of extractive industries. The briefing also explains why a new partnership between UN Women and BHP Billiton, launched in June 2018, is very problematic. Similar to UN Women, other United Nations (UN) entities are trying to attract partnerships with the corporate sector. As the case of UN Women shows, potential risks and side-effects of such partnerships are often not properly addressed. These risks should also be considered in the preparation of the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration commemorative events in 2020. Corporate involvement in these events should only play a limited role.
October 10, 2019 | AWID/DAWN/GPF/RLS
Extractive Industries and Violation of Women’s Rights
Between partnerships and regulation – two diverging ways to tackle the problem at the UN
In June 2018, Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton and UN Women launched a new partnership. As part of the agreement, the BHP Billiton foundation is granting US$ 15,562,800 to UN Women‘s Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning Programme. Given accusations of BHP Billiton’s involvement in several human rights abuses, the new partnership between the company and UN Women is astounding.
Similar to UN Women, other United Nations (UN) entities are trying to attract partnerships with the corporate sector. On the one hand, promoting such partnerships is based on the belief that governments and their institutions would not be able to solve today’s global problems alone. On the other hand, many UN entities, including UN Women, face financial problems and are therefore trying to attract private funding for their purposes and work. As the case of UN Women shows, potential risks and side-effects of such partnerships are often not properly addressed.
Rather than promoting further smart-looking corporate social responsibility projects that tend to “bluewash” a company’s reputation, the UN should be concerned with systematically addressing human rights abuses by corporations. A strong commitment to women’s human rights also needs to be addressed in partnership strategies and other initiatives such as the current negotiations on a UN treaty on business and human rights.
This briefing paper first presents how women are disproportionately affected by negative social and environmental impacts of extractive industries, and explains why the new partnership between UN Women and BHP Billiton is problematic. It then discusses how the human rights impact of business enterprises could be effectively regulated by a UN treaty on business and human rights. The paper argues that such a treaty must comprehensively integrate a gender perspective that addresses the specific impact of corporate abuse on women and marginalized communities and result in a treaty that ensures rights protections, access to justice and effective remedy for all rights holders. The UN should, furthermore, adopt strict rules on engaging with the private sector across the entire system. In order to protect the UN’s independence and integrity from corporate influence and ensure that the organization is able to fulfill its mandate, governments should provide the UN with adequate, flexible, and predictable funding.
Download the briefing paper (pdf, 325KB).
Extractive Industries and Violation of Women’s Rights
Between partnerships and regulation – two diverging ways to tackle the problem at the UN
Author: Karolin Seitz
Published by Association of Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Global Policy Forum, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
Berlin/Bonn/Suva/Toronto, October 2019
