Corporate Capture Project sets action plan for 2015-16

The Project Advisory Group (PAG) of the Corporate Capture Project (CCP), a small group of ESCR-Net members steering the development and progress of the CCP, met in Mexico City on 29th and 30th January 2015.  The PAG is made up of five ESCR-Net member organizations and one advocate from different regions of the world.

The PAG members are Defend Job (The Philippines), PODER (Mexico), the Habi Center for Environmental Law (Egypt), Above Ground (Canada), the Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food (Sierra Leone) and Bobby Ramakant (India). The CCP originated among members of the ESCR-Net Corporate Accountability Working Group (CAWG) following the 2013 ESCR-Net Peoples’ Forum on Human Rights & Business in Bangkok, Thailand. 

The meeting reviewed the vision, the intended outcomes and activities for the CCP for the following two years. Following the meeting the updated and refined vision of the CCP is to ensure a clear separation of the State from all other actors so that the power of the State is harnessed to realize the human rights of their people, and is protected from undue economic influences.

The primary objective of the project for 2015-16 will be to have a catalytic effect on global awareness of the characteristics of corporate capture, and the means available to address it, thereby producing the outcome of mobilizing and supporting strong, effective, coordinated and sustained civil society and grassroots action, particularly at the national and sub-national level. 

Summary of Timeline of Activities. 

The activities for the project can be divided into four main phases. 

The first phase includes a clear articulation of what Corporate Capture is, explained in such a way that the concept reaches the broadest possible audience. 

The second phase relates to the continued research into cases of corporate capture and using this research to develop coherent analysis of the characteristics of Corporate Capture. The research in this phase also includes investigation and documentation of the strategies civil society uses to address Corporate Capture in various contexts and jurisdictions.

The third phase is focused on building greater awareness of Corporate Capture, including how it affects human rights and the ways it can be addressed.  This phase includes the generation of communication resources to spread the information generated by the project to civil society, media, government and other stakeholders in a broad range of means, as well as actively promoting the project at significant civil society and others events.

The fourth phase is dedicated to encouraging civil society and other relevant stakeholders to take up activities that address Corporate Capture in their specific contexts and jurisdictions – drawing on the experience of groups involved in the project to collectively support actions underway in different parts of the world.

For more information on the meeting, please download the Meeting Report. 

For further information about the CCP, please contact Tatiana Bejar on tbejar@escr-net.org.