Submission to the UN Open-ended working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises

ACIDH, Al-Haq, ECCJ, PremiCongo, PODER and SOMO sent in a joint submission to the UN Open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights. SOMO and its partners aim to inform the negotiations on a legally binding instrument to hold transnational corporations to account.

The submission describes six harmful phenomena and governance gaps adversely affecting rights holders in business human rights cases. It contains examples that evidence the need for new or adapted treaty provisions and a reference to existing relevant treaty provisions that could address the flagged problems. The organisations behind the statement are working together in Mind the Gap(opens in new window) , a four-year project working to expose corporate strategies for avoiding responsibility for human rights violations, and strengthening civil society in countering these strategies and defending human rights.

The Open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights(opens in new window) (intergovernmental working group or IGWG) was set up at the United Nations in Geneva “to elaborate an international legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights”.