Social movements and civil society organizations, both members and allies of ESCR-Net, have played an instrumental role in the establishment and development of the UN Treaty process as a pushback against the status quo of corporate impunity. Our voices remain most relevant to this urgent and much-needed process. We stress that social movements and affected communities must be central to the Treaty process – with their lived experiences and demands for justice informing moves forward.
The COVID-19 crisis has illustrated that domestic law and policy in most countries around the world are not set up to protect the people against the interests of corporate elites and the wealthiest one percent. Long before COVID-19, the one percent was already the priority for many governments. This pandemic has exacerbated this reality, and many of us feel it impacting our daily lives, health, livelihood, and communities. We need a new reality. We demand a new normal. We call for a Legally Binding Instrument (Treaty) that would bring us a step closer to ending corporate impunity and making human rights a reality for all. Maintaining improvements in the draft Treaty We warmly welcome some key improvements in the second revised draft Treaty, such as having a stronger gender approach and improved language on the rights of human rights defenders and ‘victims’. We urge States to maintain these improvements.
