Corporate Accountability Working Group Update - August 2017

Binding Corporate Regulation and Effective Remedy

The ESCR-Net Corporate Accountability Working Group (CAWG) continues to engage in the UN process towards the development of a new treaty to regulate transnational corporations and other business enterprises. Members will focus advocacy on the third session of the UN Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) in Geneva, in October 2017, as well as with their governments. Members are also using the process to prompt discussions and change at national and regional levels to strengthen corporate regulation and effective remedies.  

A constructive two-year Treaty Initiative project – led by CAWG together with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) – included three regional consultations and strategy workshops in Asia (May 2015), Africa (October 2015) and Latin America (May 2016), the creation of corresponding regional advocacy platforms, and the drafting of ‘Ten Key Proposals for the Treaty’. Building on this foundation, CAWG advocated a collective submission at the second IGWG session (October 2016). This statement outlines a series of shared positions, including the need to incorporate a feminist analysis in the treaty, address the security of human rights defenders and confront corporate capture.

In recent developments, during the 35^th Human Rights Council session (June 2017), PODER represented CAWG in a side event with fellow Members—ICJ and FIDH—on “The Corporate Responsibility to Respect - Challenges and Opportunities Six Years After the UN Guiding Principles’ Adoption.” This event discussed the future of the business and human rights agenda, the challenges of voluntary measures and the role of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, whose work was noted by the Human Rights Council in extending its mandate for three years.  In addition, ESCR-Net Members—including PODER, AWID and AltSEAN Burma—and allies have continued a series of discussions on deepening a feminist approach to the treaty.  Further, in working to reinforce mobilizing at regional levels, CAWG has been discussing coordinating a session at the African Coalition for Corporate Accountability (ACCA) General Assembly (17-19 October 2017, Nairobi). Finally, to strengthen broader alliances, CAWG co-founded and continues to actively engage in the Treaty Alliance—uniting human rights, environmental, development, religious and wider social justice organizations—in common advocacy for the treaty.

Significant in the move towards the proposed treaty, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ new General Comment on State Obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Context of Business Activities provides useful guidance on the application of the ICESCR to corporate accountability issues. Among other topics, it covers privatization, types of remedies, the centrality of indigenous peoples, and States’ extraterritorial obligations (ETOs), including issues of human rights due diligence, supply chains, tax practices and international cooperation.

Next Steps: Please join upcoming regional calls to share information about progress towards national and regional corporate accountability, review the draft treaty text (expected in September) and strategize collective advocacy plans leading up to and at the third IGWG session in October 2017. Read the CESCR General Comment and share reflections on its potential to strengthen national and regional corporate accountability structures and practices, as well as support ongoing treaty advocacy. You can write directly to fellow CAWG members at: escr-net-cawg@googlegroups.com, or contact Alexandra at: amontgomery@escr-net.org.

Corporate Capture Project

The Corporate Capture project confronts the undue influence that corporations exert over public institutions and decision-making, manipulating governments to act according to the narrow private interests of corporations and investors. Corporate capture undermines public interest and the integrity of systems that safeguard human rights, democratic participation and the environment. Members have begun to define key categories of corporate capture, including: community manipulation, economic diplomacy, judicial interference, legislative & policy interference, privatization of public security services, and revolving door practices.

A strategy meeting will take place in Mexico City (29-31 August 2017), led by the Corporate Capture Project Advisory Group (Above Ground, Citizen News Service, Defend Job Philippines, Habi Center for Environmental Rights, PODER and Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food). This meeting will be informed by analysis of the broader membership during ESCR-Net’s Global Strategy Meeting, which identified corporate capture as a shared global challenge in the Common Charter for Collective Struggle. Participants will discuss examples from lived experiences and develop strategies for concrete collective action to: (1) popularize the concept of corporate capture to engage wider audiences and increase understanding of the human rights impacts, (2) develop community-led mobilization and documentation strategies, (3) develop legislative and policy proposals, to strengthen the national frameworks for regulating and preventing such practices, and (4) shape targeted campaigning and advocacy to confront corporate capture.  

Also of relevance to the Corporate Capture project, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Microsoft have announced a ‘landmark’ partnership agreement, through which Microsoft will provide USD 5 million in funds and pro bono support over five years to OHCHR. Various members have raised serious concerns about the perceived or actual interference of Microsoft (or any other corporations entering into future similar agreements) on the OHCHR’s mandate and activities, and the lack of public transparency surrounding this development. The Project Advisory Group is currently drafting a letter to OHCHR to express its concerns, which will be shared with the CAWG with an invitation for input and then collective endorsement shortly.

Next Steps: The upcoming Corporate Capture strategy meeting will bring together some 20 Members who have expressed a desire to engage in collective action via this project.  We hope that many of you, as well as Members from other working groups, will also help to shape and join evolving advocacy. If you are interested in getting involved in this project, please let Alexandra (amontgomery@escr-net.org) know.  Finally, please look for and share inputs on the upcoming draft letter to the OHCHR regarding the Microsoft partnership; we hope that all CAWG Members will be able to endorse the final version.

Strategic Case Support

CAWG periodically facilitates member-to-member strategic case support in response to current or anticipated large-scale corporate violations of human rights. At points, this involves ongoing engagement of a group of Members via CAWG, following review by the Steering Committee in line with our case selection criteria, with collective action offering opportunities to share strategies and lessons across regions. As two brief updates, CAWG celebrated the formal withdrawal of POSCO from Odisha, in March 2017, following the dedicated struggle of the PPSS and the engagement of some 20 Members. However, the state government held onto confiscated land, continued criminalization of grassroots leaders and seems poised to welcome the JSW Group in hopes of continuing the massive steel project set to displace 20,000 people in violation of national and international law.  The current political context and the potential entry of a national conglomerate present new challenges. Secondly, PODER, CIEL and IDI are working with Defend Job to map development financiers and private investors involved in the Manila Bay Reclamation Project in the Philippines, as potential targets for advocacy. In partnership with the Women and ESCR and Monitoring Working Groups, a next step will involve exploring possibilities to expand community-led documentation and mobilization, incorporating analysis of the different and disproportionate impacts facing women.

Next Steps: If you are interested in supporting ongoing collective efforts in the Philippines and potentially India, please let Alexandra know. In addition, Members are welcome to seek the input and support of fellow Members in particular cases via our closed listserv: escr-net-cawg@googlegroups.com.