Thank you Madam Chair.
I am speaking on behalf of Friends of the Earth Europe, SOMO, CIDSE, Brot für die Welt,
IBFAN, IBFAN-GIFA and Global Policy Forum, who together made a joint submission to
this intergovernmental working group. Our organizations are also members of the
Treaty Alliance.
We think a new binding instrument should ensure businesses comply with human
rights due diligence requirements of the UNGPs and OECD Guidelines. Building on these
existing norms, the treaty should establish a duty for States to transform the voluntary
corporate responsibility to respect human rights into a mandatory corporate obligation
to respect human rights throughout all their operations including transnational.
A mandatory obligation to respect and remedy human rights should fix the gaps in the
UNGPs while building on its achievement..The key aspects of this achievement are the
human rights due diligence concept and the recognition that companies can impact on
human rights in different ways.
Let me briefly elaborate. Under the UNGPs, the process of human rights due diligence
(HRDD) entails assessing the actual and potential human rights impacts from its
operations; integrating and acting upon the findings made; tracking responses; and
communicating how the negative impacts have been addressed. Of particular relevance
is the obligation for business enterprises to consult with potentially affected groups and
other relevant stakeholders to identify potentially adverse human rights risk. And
address adverse impacts when they occur.
The UNGPs state very clearly that companies can impact all human rights in a number of
ways: not only by causing the violations, but also by contributing to it, or by being
directly linked to the violations through its activities and business relationship. We see
this for example in the role of financial institutions who provide financial services to
companies which are engaged in landgrabbing, environmental degradation, violations of
human rights and other. Or in the garment industry, where brands and retailers benefit
from low production costs while workers in their supply chain face modern day slavery
conditions.
Human rights due diligence is key in preventing adverse human rights impacts.
However, one of the biggest gaps left by the UNGPs is the lack of effective remedy
mechanisms to redress human rights violations. Therefore, in order for the treaty to fill
this gap, it needs to be combined with legal liability whether civil, criminal or
administrative. Provisions onthe extraterritorial scope of due diligence regulation are
also needed.
We will elaborate further on corporate liability in tomorrow morning’s panel session.
Madam Chair, we conclude by stressing again the importance of this week and the
substantive discussions. We call on all states, including the EU, but also others whom we
do not see here, to join these panel discussions and participate. These discussions will
be heard and shared with NGOs, social movements and human and environmental
rights defenders who are all hoping for a strong treaty for binding rules for businesses.
I thank you for your attention.
