Business and human rights: latest UN treaty draft harbours opportunities and risks

17.10.2023 · Meldung

Since 31 July 2023, a revised draft of a binding human rights instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises has been available. With the new draft, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Working Group negotiating the agreement takes a substantial step towards the states of the Global North and addresses their demands.

Offers to the Global North

For example, the current draft builds even more strongly than previous drafts on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights - the internationally agreed framework in the field of business and human rights. In addition, the draft has been significantly streamlined. Many formulations have a higher degree of clarity and are thus more legally sound. At the same time, the draft grants states parties greater flexibility in several places - this facilitates acceptance and promotes implementability.

The ball is in the EU's court

The EU and its member states should not let this offer pass by and clearly communicate to the Chair that an EU negotiating mandate is concretely planned and will follow the adoption of the EU-wide supply chain directive CSDDD. This is because these concessions to countries in the Global North come at a price and in some places go too far: in some cases they go hand in hand with considerable reductions in the level of protection for rights-holders. These reductions – some of them below the level of the German Supply Chain Act and its planned European counterpart - are not in the European interest and should not be accepted without further ado.

Problematic weakenings in the new draft

This applies, among other things, to the deletion of many references to the environment and climate and to the weakening of the risk-based approach as well as appropriate remedial provisions and the consideration of the perspective of affected rights-holders in corporate due diligence. The material scope of application is also no longer clearly regulated. In addition, the current draft falls short of previous drafts in some areas with regard to access to justice.

Background

In June 2014, the UN Human Rights Council adopted Resolution 26/9 establishing the Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises (OEIGWG). The Working Group is to develop an international legally binding instrument to regulate the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises in the field of human rights. The OEIGWG will meet for the ninth round of negotiations from 23 to 27 October 2023. The basis for discussion will be the Ecuadorian Chair's revised draft of 31 July 2023.