Civil society’s proposal for the Conclusions and Recommendations of the Report of the 4th session of the UN Binding Treaty negotiations

This week, we have witnessed a landmark moment in the UN Human Rights Council. States have begun negotiating the text of the UN treaty on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights.

This represents important progress for the countless communities, workers, and survivors who have struggled for decades to protect their human rights from violations and abuses by transnational corporations and other business enterprises.

On Friday the 19th of October 2018, the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group (OEIGWG) will adopt its report of this session, with recommendations and conclusions for moving the process forward. As civil society organisations, we look forward to the report, and recommend the following elements be included:

• An explicit commitment to continue with the 5^th OEIGWG session, and as many subsequent sessions of the OEIGWG as are needed to elaborate an ambitious legally binding instrument;
• Informal intersessional consultations, guaranteeing meaningful civil society participation;
• National consultations, guaranteeing civil society participation;
• Publication of a strengthened Draft One based on inputs and comments made on the Zero Draft and during the previous sessions, including the critical inputs made by civil society and affected communities throughout the process;
• A reasonable timeline for additional written submissions by states and civil society on the zero draft.

Last year at the end of the 3rd session, valuable time and energy was wasted by attempts to hold up the process. We call on all States to support the conclusions of the 4th session in view of advancing the negotiations until a bold and ambitious legally binding instrument is adopted.

Civil society organisations that endorse this proposal:

• Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity
• Friends of the Earth International
• Friends of the Earth Europe
• Friends of the Earth Latin America and Caribbean (ATALC)
• Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND)
• Friends of the Earth Malaysia (Sahabat Alam Malaysia)
• Corporate Accountability International
• Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)
• Global Policy Forum (GPF)
• France Amérique Latine (FAL)
• Brot für die Welt
• CCFD-Terre Solidaire
• CIDSE (International family of Catholic social justice organisations)
• MISEREOR
• Conselho Indigenista Missionário (CIMI)
• FIAN Germany
• International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
• Amis de la Terre/Friends of the Earth France
• Ecologistas en Acción, Spain
• Lafede.cat – Organitzacions per a la Justícia Global
• Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)
• Commission Justice et Paix Belgique
• HOMA – Centro de Direitos Humanos e Empresas
• Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and
• Verein SÜDWIND Entwicklungspolitik, Austria
• Network Social Responsibility, Austria (Netzwerk Soziale Verantwortung, NeSoVe)
• Attac Austria
• Attac Denmark
• FIAN International
• Franciscans International
• NOAH Friends of the Earth Denmark
• Global Justice Now UK
• SÜDWIND e.V. – Institut für Ökonomie und Ökumene
• CorA – Corporate Accountability: Netzwerk für Unternehmensverantwortung
• Society for International Development (SID)
• Afrika Kontakt, Denmark
• European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ)
• Clean Clothes Campaign International Office
• Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)
• ActionAid International
• ActionAid France
• FIAN Brazil
• CNPCT (Brazilian National Council of Traditional Peoples and Communities)
• CPT Piauí (Brazil)
• Labour Behind the Label (UK)
• TROCA – Plataforma por um Comércio Internacional Justo  (Portugal)
• World March of Women-Philippines
• ESCR-Net – International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
• CAFOD
• DKA Austria
• Collectif Ethique sur l’étiquette (France)
• African Coalition for Corporate Accountability (ACCA)
• HAND Association
• FIDH, member of Treaty Alliance
• FIAN Switzerland
• Action Solidarité Tiers Monde – Luxembourg
• Transnational Institute (TNI)
• Amigos/as da Terra Brasil / Friends of the Earth Brazil
• NaZemi (Czech Republic)
• Justiça Ambiental / Friends of the Earth Mozambique
• Pro Natura / Friends of the Earth Switzerland
• Movimento dos Atingidos e das Atinas por Barragem (MAB/Brazil)
• La Vía Campesina Internacionalg
• National Society of Conservationists – Friends of the Earth Hungary
• WEED – World Economy, Ecology & Development e.V.
• Plataforma Boliviana Frente al Cambio Climático
• Friends of the Earth Ghana
• Towards Sustainability Association
• FIAN Burkina Faso
• Confederación Sindical de las Américas (CSA/TUCA)
• Red Latinoamericana por el Acceso a Medicamentos (RedLAM)
• Union syndicale Solidaires (France)
• Observatori Drets Humans i Empreses a la Mediterrània
• SUDS – Associació Internacional de Solidaritat i Cooperació
• Novact
• Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association
• Centre for Natural Resource Governance Zimbabwe
• Green Scenery, Sierra Leone
• Malden Affected Landowners and Land users Association, Sierra Leone
• WoMin Alliance
• Center for International Environmental Law
• BELA – Friends of the Earth Bangladesh
• SETEM Catalunya
• Justicia i Pau
• International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL)
• Sahabat Alam Malaysia – Friends of the Earth Malaysia
• Legal Rights & Natural Resources Center – Friends of the Earth Philippines
• Les Amis de la Terre Togo
• Sustainable Development Initiative / Friends of the Earth Liberia