Thank you Chairperson.
I am speaking on behalf of the International
Baby Food Action Network and the Pesticide Action Network Asia,
both members of the Treaty Alliance.
As highlighted by human rights experts as well as by our networks
engaged with communities on the ground, corporate abuses affect
the whole range of human rights defined in the core human rights
instruments, from civil and political to economic, social and cultural
rights.
Our organizations have documented a great number of cases in
which people’s health has been negatively affected, children’s
development has been jeopardized, food and water have been
contaminated and natural resources depleted by activities of
business enterprises. Their activities, which include the production
and use of highly hazardous chemicals and pesticides, do not only
cause direct harm to populations and damage the environment. They
also lead to long-term negative impacts on health that are sometimes
irreversible and intergenerational.
Misleading marketing causes long-term effects on people’s health and
development. For example, when baby food companies promote their
breastmilk substitutes in violation with the WHO Code, they
undermine breastfeeding optimal practices, therefore exposing
infants and young children to a greater risk of mortality and
compromising their future health, growth and wellbeing.
We would like to reiterate that all human rights are universal and
inalienable as well as interdependent and indivisible. A treaty that
would cover only a narrow scope of human rights would be
meaningless to the affected people. Therefore, the future treaty
should incorporate all human rights contained in the core human
rights conventions as well as the relevant ILO conventions, in
particular those related to labour rights, maternity protection, rights
of indigenous people, and agricultural and migrant workers. Thank
you.
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