This document outlines ten key proposals for a UN treaty aimed at addressing corporate human rights abuses. Driven by the demands of over 400 human rights organizations within the ESCR-Net and FIDH networks, the proposals emphasize the primacy of human rights over conflicting trade and investment agreements. Key themes include establishing corporate legal responsibility to respect human rights, ensuring access to information and meaningful participation for affected communities, defining the scope of the treaty to encompass all types of businesses and human rights, clarifying extraterritorial obligations of states, establishing corporate criminal liability, guaranteeing effective remedies, and creating robust remedial mechanisms. The ultimate purpose is to create a legally binding instrument to hold corporations accountable for human rights violations and provide effective redress for victims worldwide.Ten Key Proposals for the Treaty: A Legal Resource for Advocates and Diplomats Engaging with the UN Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, was published in October 2016 as part of a joint initiative by the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). The document advocates for the development of a robust international treaty to regulate transnational corporations and other business enterprises to prevent human rights abuses and ensure access to remedy for affected people.
The ten key proposals focus on:
The ten key proposals focus on:
- Preamble: The preamble should highlight the context of the treaty, including the UN Human Rights Council Resolution 26/9, existing international legal obligations on states, and the purpose of the treaty.
- Primacy of Human Rights: The treaty should reaffirm the precedence of human rights obligations over trade and investment treaties to ensure states can protect human rights without violating trade commitments.
- Scope of the Treaty: The treaty should address the complex regulatory challenges posed by transnational corporations, while affirming the responsibility of all corporations to respect human rights. The treaty should cover all human rights, including civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.
- Corporate Legal Responsibility to Respect Human Rights: The treaty should recognize corporations’ legal responsibilities to respect human rights and establish a framework for states to ensure these responsibilities are observed.
- Access to Information and Participation: States should ensure civil society has access to relevant information at each stage of corporate activity to facilitate meaningful participation in preventing and responding to human rights impacts.
- Human Rights Due Diligence: States should establish domestic legislation requiring corporations to conduct human rights due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for adverse human rights impacts.
- Extraterritorial Obligations: The treaty should consolidate existing legal developments by including provisions guided by the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States, extending their application to cover all human rights.
- Corporate Criminal Liability: States must ensure corporate liability for human rights abuses includes criminal liability for both corporations as legal entities and individuals within corporations. The treaty should also address corporate actions that contribute to human rights violations by other parties.
- Effective Remedies: States should guarantee access to adequate, effective, prompt, and appropriate remedies for those affected by corporate human rights violations.
- Remedial Mechanisms: States must establish accessible and effective mechanisms to offer remedies for injuries caused by corporate abuses. These mechanisms should be independent and protect the safety of those seeking remedies.
The document argues for a comprehensive approach to corporate accountability, recognizing that human rights violations often occur within complex corporate structures and global supply chains. It emphasizes the need to strengthen state obligations to regulate corporate conduct and ensure access to remedies for affected individuals and communities.
