Human Rights and Business TreatyThe ESCR-Net Corporate Accountability Working Group (CAWG) continues our engagement with the UN process to develop a new treaty to regulate transnational corporations and other business enterprises. These advocacy positions were built on our collective 2016 submission. In September, just few weeks before the UN session in Geneva, the draft elements of the Human Rights and Business Treaty were released. We promptly reacted by organizing our 2017 collective submission to the IGWG. During the IGWG itself, we co-sponsored three side events, directly linked to our three priority advocacy positions.
Throughout the IGWG session in Geneva, CAWG members worked alongside secretariat staff, sending daily updates to fellow members and allies on developments. I invite you to watch and share this series of videos we made on the reasons why we need a treaty to hold corporations accountable.
Corporate Capture ProjectOur Corporate Capture Project addresses the ways that governments, public institutions and decision-making organs are influenced and manipulated by corporations to act according to narrow private interests. After we convened at our strategy meeting, held in Mexico City (29-31 August 2017), our members started to develop a plan of action for the next two years aimed at:
Another outcome of our strategy meeting was recognizing the importance of highlighting the corporate capture framework in key spaces, including the IGWG session on the binding treaty. In addition, various members have raised serious concerns about the perceived or actual interference of Microsoft on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) due to the announced “landmark partnership” between OHCHR and Microsoft. CAWG deliberated with our members and sent a letter to the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights expressing our concerns.
Thank YouWe want to offer a note of thanks for the immense work of the Project Advisory Group of the Corporate Capture Project: Above Ground, Citizens News Service, Defend Job, Habi Center for Environmental Rights, PODER and SiLNoRF. They did an amazing job organizing and facilitating our recent strategy meeting, co-hosted by PODER. In partnership with many members engaged in different parts of this project, this Project Advisory Group continues to hold regular monthly meetings to advance our Corporate Capture Project. Similarly, we want to acknowledge our leadership and thank our CAWG steering Committee members in the role they played on the crafting of the Microsoft letter, especially EarthRights International and PODER. In addition, the engagement of the steering committee members in Geneva during the IGWG session was impressive. AltSEAN, Al Haq, MOSOP, PODER and Tebtebba, as steering Committee members played an important role in this initiative of the Human Rights and Business Treaty Project. Other members of CAWG that also played an important role were APRODEH, AWID, APWLD, Amnesty International, Corporate Accountability, CALS, CCR, CIEL, FOCO, FIAN, Franciscans International, FIDH, FUNDEPS, ICJ, ISER, FIDH, KeNRA, KHRC, Justiça Global, LRC, MAB, Otros Mundos, RIDH and our individual member Luis Vittor. Finally, we would like to thank the ESCR-Net Women and ESCR Working Group and the SOS Advisory Group in helping to shape CAWG advocacy positions on the treaty. The Corporate Accountability Working Group coordinates collective actions and builds capacity to challenge emblematic cases of corporate abuse, advocating for new accountability and remedy structures. It engages in collective advocacy, campaigning and collaborative research, member-to-member capacity building and information dissemination.
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