The intergovernmental working group (IGWG) in charge of elaborating "an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises” will hold its first session from 6 to 10 July 2015.
UN Human Rights Council resolution 26/9, which established the IGWG provided that the group’s first two sessions will be dedicated to discussions on the "content, scope, nature and form of the future international instrument.”
In this context, members of the Treaty Alliance issued a second statement highlighting a series of recommendations ahead of the IGWG’s first session. The Treaty Alliance statement addresses the treaty-development process itself and the participation of States and civil society, and indicates concrete elements related to the format, scope and content of the treaty which should be discussed in the IGWG.
The adoption of resolution 26/9 by the UN HRC on 26 June 2014 vote echoed the global call for an international legally binding instrument on business and human rights signed by over 600 civil society organisations and social movements in over 90 different countries.
FIDH published a position paper calling for a reinforcement of legal standards at the international, regional and national level, and welcomed the adoption of the June 2014 HRC resolution. FIDH is currently engaged in a Treaty Initiative together with ESCR-Net, aiming at developing concrete content proposals towards an international treaty. The first regional consultation in the framework of this joint project took place in Thailand in early May 2015.
Read and Sign the Treaty Alliance’s second statement.
More information on the Treaty Alliance.