The treaty on transnational corporations and human rights enters “negotiation mode”

8 November 2017

A treaty on transnational corporations (TNCs) and human rights moved a step closer during the latest meeting of the UN working group on human rights and transnational corporations, despite challenges from the EU and the US.

More than 100 states and over 200 representatives of social movements, trade unions and civil society organizations were at the UN in Geneva during the third session of the UN intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, from October 23-27, 2017. Members of parliaments from more than 20 countries and the European Parliament, as well as more than 700 civil society organizations have indicated strong public support for the process.

At the end of an intense and inspiring week, the closing Recommendations of the Chair-Rapporteur of the working group, Ambassador Guillaume Long, Permanent Representative of Ecuador in Geneva, committed to a road-map for the negotiation process for the fourth working group session in 2018 and to further annual sessions.

'The end of corporate impunity is coming': Video by the Global Campaign

The Draft Report and Conclusions were approved by consensus and will be submitted for final approval to the UNHRC in March 2018. Furthermore, it was agreed that the Elements paper towards a Treaty proposed by Ecuador in this third session remains open for further comment until the end of February and will then, together with the outcomes from the 2015 and 2016 sessions, form the basis for developing the zero draft treaty for the fourth working group session in 2018.

TNI was present in Geneva as an active member of the Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity. The Campaign is a peoples’ global structural response to unaccountable corporate power that provides facilitation for dialogue, strategizing, exchanging information and experiences, acting as a space for visibility of resistance and deepening of solidarity and support for struggles against transnational corporations (TNCs).

TNI is also a founding member of the Treaty Alliance, a global coalition of 900 civil society organisations supporting the creation of the UN Binding Treaty.

Day by day updates from the Treaty Alliance during the third session are gathered together in this storify below.

Stop Corporate Impunity