In its final oral statement during the UN negotiations on a Treaty on Business and Human Rights, a coalition of ten civil society organisations restate their support and engagement in the process towards a Legally Binding Instrument. They reaffirm their view that the revised draft provides a solid basis for further negotiations by recognizing the fundamental challenges created by today’s transnational business activities and corporate structures, and has moved on from the former draft in important respects such as effective remedy and reparation for persons affected by human rights violations. Most importantly, the session has shown that there exist concrete proposals and solutions on how to clarify the remaining issues. In order to keep a steady pace of negotiations and to further advance the Treaty Process, the coalition requests that talks continue on an intersessional basis until the next formal session of the Working Group in October 2020, taking into account the contributions of civil society actors and other experts.
October 18, 2019 | GPF et al.
Final statement of CSO coalition on the 5th session of the UN working group on a Treaty on Business and Human Rights
by Franciscans International, International Commission of Jurists, International Federation for Human Rights, Amnesty International, CIDSE, CAFOD, Clean Clothes Campaign, Women´s International League for Peace and Freedom, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales and Global Policy Forum
At the closing of this fifth session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on a Legally Binding Instrument on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, our organizations would like to congratulate the Chairmanship and the many delegations who actively engaged, for the quality of the discussion that took place this week. We restate our support and engagement in the process towards a Legally Binding Instrument.
We reaffirm our views that the revised draft provides a solid basis for further negotiations. It provides clarity about a broader scope in terms of all business enterprises, and keeps a focus on accountability for business abuses of human rights and the right to an effective remedy and reparation for the affected persons, whilst recognizing the fundamental challenges created by today’s transnational business activities and corporate structures.
This session has shown that, while there is still work to do to clarify and improve parts of the text, concrete proposals and solutions have been presented, many of which draw from existing precedent, principles and instruments of international law, which will support progress towards an effective and widely acceptable Legally Binding Instrument.
We are however concerned by the inadequate time dedicated to negotiations and the reluctance of some delegations to actively engage in the discussions using diverse excuses. Some of these delegations are already discussing these issues domestically in the context of internal debates and processes on human rights due diligence. It is crucial to keep a steady pace of negotiations to achieve the mandate of this working group.
To that end, we call on this assembly to carry on with negotiations on an intersessional basis until the next formal Intergovernmental Working Groups session in October 2020. These discussions may be focused on specific articles or issues with a view to enable better understanding and agreement among States, ensuring effective participation of civil society and taking into account their contributions as well as those of experts.
