En 1972 el Presidente chileno Salvador Allende denunciaba ante las Naciones Unidas la falta de regulación y de control de las empresas transnacionales. En la actualidad, tras múltiples esfuerzos en este ámbito, se avanza hacia un Tratado Vinculante sobre empresas transnacionales y derechos humanos en el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU. En este artículo destacamos cómo este proceso puede... Read more
Body:
Photo credit Victor Barro En 1972, menos de un año antes de su asesinato durante el golpe de Estado de Augusto Pinochet, el presidente chileno Salvador Allende afirmaba ante las Naciones Unidas:... Read more
Sra. Nathalie Rengifo, Corporate Accountability, Campaña Global
En 2014, el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas estableció un grupo de trabajo intergubernamental para elaborar un Tratado Vinculante para regular las actividades de las empresas transnacionales y otras empresas con respecto a los derechos humanos. Desde entonces, todos los años son invitados los Estados a las Naciones Unidas para participar en una nueva ronda de negociaciones sobre el Tratado. El desafío es la adopción de un Tratado jurídicamente vinculante para poner fin a la impunidad corporativa y regular las actividades empresariales contra la destrucción del medio ambiente, los abusos y las violaciones de los derechos humanos. Un Tratado de la ONU permitiría a los Estados acordar universalmente los elementos que regulan la conducta de las empresas transnacionales en el derecho internacional de los derechos humanos y sentar las bases para un acceso efectivo a la justicia.
Los movimientos sociales y las autoridades locales se enfrentan cada vez más a violaciones de derechos humanos derivadas del poder corporativo. Desde la financiarización de la vivienda hasta la contaminación del entorno urbano, los impactos de la gig economy o la privación del derecho al agua, cada vez más gobiernos locales en todos los rincones del mundo experimentan cómo la impunidad empresarial afecta la vida de las personas que habitan las ciudades. La mayoría de las veces, tienen capacidades limitadas para abordar estas violaciones de los derechos humanos y del Derecho a la Ciudad.
Para responder a este escenario, las ciudades y comunidades unen esfuerzos a través de redes e iniciativas comunes, aumentando los espacios democráticos locales y construyendo alternativas concretas a los modelos de desarrollo económico y urbano actuales que refuerzan la exclusión y las desigualdades. En 2020, se publicó el “Llamado de las autoridades locales para apoyar el Tratado Vinculante de la ONU”, demostrando su interés por contar con un Tratado ambicioso. La reflexión sobre el Tratado Vinculante de la ONU puede apoyar estas iniciativas y permitir avanzar hacia un paradigma del Derecho a la Ciudad que entienda las ciudades como bienes comunes que pertenecen a todas/os las/os habitantes, y en los que todas/os puedan producir y disfrutar de los servicios y oportunidades disponibles.
Durante este evento paralelo virtual, reuniremos a representantes de autoridades locales y organizaciones comunitarias del Sur y del Norte Global para resaltar los impactos de las empresas transnacionales a nivel local y las posibilidades que presenta la aprobación de un Tratado Vinculante de la ONU desde la perspectiva del Derecho a la Ciudad.
Interpretación en castellano e inglés
Organizan: Plataforma Global por el Derecho a la Ciudad (PGDC), la Comisión Inclusión Social, Democracia Participativa y Derechos Humanos de Ciudades y Gobiernos Locales Unidos (CLGU), CCFD-Terre Solidaire, Transnational Institute (TNI) y la Campaña Global para reivindicar la soberanía de los Pueblos, desmantelar el poder corporativo y poner fin a la impunidad.
Spanish
Date:
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Type:
Webinar
Time:
13:30 - 15:00 CET
Teaser:
Durante este evento paralelo virtual, reuniremos a representantes de autoridades locales y organizaciones comunitarias del Sur y del Norte Global para resaltar los impactos de las empresas transnacionales a nivel local y las posibilidades que presenta la aprobación de un Tratado Vinculante de la ONU desde la perspectiva del Derecho a la Ciudad.
Ms. Nathalie Rengifo, Corporate Accountability, Global Campaign
In 2014, the United Nations Human Rights Council established an intergovernmental working group to elaborate a Binding Treaty to regulate the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights. Every year since then, States are invited to the United Nations to participate in a new round of negotiations on the Treaty. The challenge is the adoption of a legally Binding Treaty to end corporate impunity and regulate corporate activities against environmental destruction, human rights abuses and violations. A UN Treaty would enable States to universally agree on the elements regulating the conduct of transnational corporations in international human rights law, and to lay the ground for an effective access to justice.
Social movements and local authorities are increasingly confronted with human rights violations arising from corporate power. From the financialization of housing to the pollution of the urban environment, the impacts of the gig economy or the deprivation of the right to water, more and more local governments in every corner of the world can relate to how corporate impunity affects the lives of fellow city residents. Most of the time, they have limited capacities to address these human rights and Right to the City violations.
To respond to this scenario, cities and communities are joining forces through networks and common initiatives, increasing local democratic spaces and building concrete alternatives to the current economic and urban development models that reinforce exclusion and inequalities.
In 2020, the “Call by Local authorities to support the UN Binding Treaty” was released, exposing their interest in an ambitious Treaty. The reflection on the UN Binding Treaty can support these initiatives to flourish and to advance towards a Right to the City paradigm that understands cities as common goods that belong to all inhabitants, and in which all can produce and enjoy the services and opportunities they have to offer.
During this event, we will bring together representatives of local authorities and community organizations from the Global South and North in order to highlight the impacts of transnational corporations at a local level and the possibilities presented by approving an UN Binding Treaty from a Right to the City perspective.
Organizers: Global Platform for the Right to the City (GPR2C), United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights, CCFD-Terre Solidaire, Transnational Institute (TNI) and Global Campaign to Reclaim People’s Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity.
English
Date:
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Type:
Webinar
Time:
13:30 - 15:00 CET
Teaser:
This event brought together representatives of local authorities and community organizations from the Global South and North in order to highlight the impacts of transnational corporations at a local level and the possibilities presented by approving an UN Binding Treaty from a Right to the City perspective.
The military is taking the climate crisis seriously, but whose interests do their climate plans serve?
Body:
Video of Military planning for climate breakdown
The Military is taking the climate crisis seriously, but whose interests do their climate plans serve? asks Nick Buxton, co-editor of 'The Secure and the Dispossessed: How the Military and Corporations are Shaping a Climate-changed World' (Pluto Books 2015).
He summarises US, EU and UK military plans for climate change that have evolv... Read more
TNI has a long track record of working on land politics within the broader context of agrarian and environmental justice. Many of these have been produced with transnational agrarian movements and partners on the ground. Here, we highlight five key readings (and some further recommended readings!) that TNI has published over the years.
Public ownership of vital services including water, energy and healthcare is returning to the forefront of policy at the local level. As earlier experiences of privatisation have failed to deliver on promises of improved effectiveness, investment and modernisation, public services are being brought back in-house in an increasing number of towns, cities and regions around the world. This trend has come to be known as remunicipalisation. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of locally integrated public service delivery has become acutely evident.
John McDonnell (Labour MP and former UK Shadow Chancellor)
Daria Cibrario (Local and Regional Government Officer, Public Services International)
Andrew Cumbers (author of Reclaiming Public Ownership: Making Space for Economic Democracy and University of Glasgow researcher)
Laura Stegemann (University of Glasgow and TNI database research officer)
Chaired by Bethia Pearson (Research Associate, ERC Global Remunicipalisation project) and Franziska Paul (Research Associate, ERC Global Remunicipalisation project)
For more information, please visit the Global Remunicipalisation project website
