Last April in Barcelona, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez gathered progressive leaders, including Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum, to discuss how to defend democracy and multilateralism amid rising authoritarianism and growing geopolitical tensions.
In a recent op-ed, Salvadoran environmental defender Zenayda Serrano of MUFRAS-32 and ESCR-Net’s Corporate Accountability Coordinator Mona Sabella argue that one of the greatest threats to governments’ ability to act in the public interest is often left out of the conversation: corporate power.
“Fewer than 60,000 people — the richest 0.001% — now control three times more wealth than half of humanity combined. This is not only a question of inequality; it is a question of political power: the ability to shape laws, influence elections, and block reforms that threaten corporate interests.”
More than a decade after Global South countries launched negotiations for a UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights—also referred to as the legally binding instrument (LBI)—the process is entering a decisive phase, and the stakes could not be higher.
According to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s latest report, nearly 800 attacks linked to business activity were documented against human rights defenders across 80 countries in 2025 alone. Many were connected to mining, agribusiness, fossil fuels, and large-scale infrastructure projects. Indigenous Peoples accounted for 30% of recorded attacks despite representing just 6% of the world’s population.
“The question is whether governments still have the ability to impose effective limits on forms of economic power that can violate human and environmental rights, weaken regulation, and exert greater influence than many states.”
