At the UN Human Rights Council session in September 2013, Ecuador led a number of governments in issuing a statement in favour of a legally binding international instrument on business & human rights to be concluded within the UN system. The instrument envisioned “would clarify the obligations of transnational corporations in the field of human rights” and “provide for the establishment of effective remedies for victims in cases where domestic jurisdiction is clearly unable to” provide them. Over 90 NGOs signed a statement in support of this initiative.
On 28 January 2014, the former UN Special Representative on business & human rights, Professor John Ruggie released an issues brief in response to Ecuador’s proposal for a legally binding instrument.
Below are links to these documents, as well as related commentaries. We welcome additional commentaries and perspectives for this page – please contact Irene Pietropaoli atpietropaoli@business-humanrights.org
Ecuador Govt. statement to UN Human Rights Council
[PDF] Statement on behalf of a Group of Countries at the 24th Session of the Human Rights Council
Republic of Ecuador, at UN Human Rights Council, Sep 2013
[Español] [PDF] Declaración en nombre de un grupo de países en la 24 ª edición de sesiones del Consejo de Derechos Humanos
República del Ecuador, 13 septiembre 2013
Statement to the Human Rights Council in Support of the Initiative of a Group of States for a Legally Binding Instrument on Transnational Corporations
Signed by over 90 civil society organisations, 13 Sep 2013
[Español] Declaración Ante El Consejo De Derechos Humanos En Apoyo A La Iniciativa De Un Grupo De Estados Hacia La Institución De Un Instrumento Legal Vinculante Sobre Corporaciones Transnacionales
Firmado por más de 90 organisaciones, 13 de septiembre 2013
A UN Business and Human Rights Treaty? An Issues Brief by John G. Ruggie
John Ruggie, Harvard Univ., former UN Special Representative on business & human rights, 28 Jan 2014 (John Ruggie developed the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which were endorsed by consensus by all the governments on the UN Human Rights Council in 2011).
Additional initiatives & commentaries
[PDF] Speech of Richard Howitt MEP, European Parliament Rapporteur on Corporate Social Responsibility to Seminar on “Purpose of the Corporation” with focus on European corporate governance rules
European Parliament, Brussels, 11 February 2014
Ruggie versus Ecuador: Will a human rights norm ever emerge regardless of Western support?
Koldo Casla, for Rights in Context, 9 Feb 2014
Human rights pressure on business
Sudeep Chakravarti, Livemint, 30 Jan 2014
100+ groups publicly call on United Nations to develop new binding instrument to address corporate human rights abuses
ESCR-Net, 13 Dec 2013
[PDF] Call for an international legally binding instrument on human rights, transnational corporations and other business enterprises
ESCR-Net, Food First Information and Action Network, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) & International Commission of Jurists, Nov 2013
[Español] [PDF] Llamado por un instrumento internacional obligatorio sobre derechos humanos y empresas – abierto a firmas adicionales[Versión en Español a partir de la tercera página]
ESCR-Net, Food First Information and Action Network, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), International Commission of Jurists, noviembre de 2013
[PDF] High Level Discussion on advancing Business and Human Rights in the Human Rights Council
International Commission of Jurists, Parallel event, 20th session Human Rights Council, 21 Jun 2012
Towards a legally binding treaty on human rights and multinational companies?
Chris Esdaile, Leigh Day & Co., 5 Dec 2013
Speech at UN Forum’s Closing Plenary Session
Debbie Stothard, Intl. Federation for Human Rights & Altsean-Burma, 4 Dec 2013
Beyond the Guiding Principles? Examining new calls for a legally binding instrument on business and human rights
Peter Muchlinski (Prof. of Intl. Commercial Law, School of Oriental & African Studies [SOAS, London]) on Institute for Human Rights and Business, 15 Oct 2013
Without Rules – A Failed Approach to Corporate Accountability
[François] L’absence de règles dans le monde des affaires
[Español] Sin Normas
العربية] قواعد – المنهج الفاشل لمحاسبة المؤسسات التجارية]
Christopher Albin-Lackey, Human Rights Watch, 2013
response to Christopher Albin-Lackey: Progress in Corporate Accountability, Prof. John Ruggie, Harvard Univ., former UN Special Representative on business & human rights, on Institute for Human Rights and Business, 4 Feb 2013
Earlier approaches to a legally binding instrument
The human rights obligations of transnational corporations were the subject of earlier draft instruments:
-
The UN Commission on Transnational Corporations elaborated a draft UN Code of Conduct on Transnational Corporations in the 1970s and 1980s. However the draft was never finalised.
- The “Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights” were adopted by the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in 2003. The UN Commission on Human Rights considered the Norms in 2004, but did not approve them and said they had “no legal standing”. For explanatory materials on the UN Sub-Commission Norms, text of the Norms, key commentaries, and the decision by the UN Commission, click here.
- At the Vienna+20 CSO conference held in Vienna on 25-26 June 2013, some participants called on governments to develop a binding system of international regulation and norms for transnational corporations. At the Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights in Medellín, Colombia, in August 2013, more than 100 NGOs called for a binding instrument. During a Round Table in the European Parliament in Brussels on 5 September, governments were also asked for a binding instrument to address the accountability of transnational corporations.
