First Informal Consultation on the Revised Draft Legally Binding Instrument on Business Activities and Human Rights; Friday, 29 May 2020, 10:00-12:00 (Geneva-CET)

Pix Credit HERE (and used to convey irony)

The open-ended intergovernmental working group (OEIGWG) has had five sessions so far. Ahead of the fifth session, the Permanent Mission of Ecuador, on behalf of the Chairmanship of the OEIGWG, released a revised draft legally binding instrument on business activities and human rights. The revised draft served as the basis for direct substantive intergovernmental negotiations during the fifth session of the OEIGWG, which was held from 14 to 18 October 2019, in Geneva.

The OEIGWG Chair accepted additional textual suggestions on the draft legally binding instrument received until the end of February 2020. In connection with the preparation of revisions to the draft, the OEIGWG proposed a series of consultations to be held in Geneva. COVID-19 required a modification of the original schedule of consultation. The second open informal consultation, which will now be the first consultation, planned on Friday, 29 May 2020, 10:00-12:00, is maintained but will take place online.

The following link should be used to register to participate in the virtual informal open consultation to be held on Friday 29th May, from 10:00 to 12:00 CET.
https://indico.un.org/event/34503/

The Coalition for Peace and Ethics has previously noted that the Treaty is worth the effort.  However, this approach to a treaty may not be, in large part because of the sometimes substantial challenges built into the present draft Treaty. On both substantive and technical grounds, as policy or law, the draft Treaty effectively impedes the development of effective measures for the vindication of the rights of people harmed by others in the course of economic activities.Lamentably, none of these substantial observations, delivered to those who have tasked themselves with this project, was acknowledged.  They remain unanswered.  They have been published, however, and may be accessed here:

Volume 14 No. 2 (Special Issue)
Commentary on the U.N. Inter-Governmental Working Group (Geneva) 2019 Draft “Legally Binding Instrument to Regulate, in International Human Rights Law, The Activities of Corporations and Other Business Enterprises” (Textual and Conceptual Analysis).


Information about the Consultation follows and may also be accessed HERE.

Open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights

Mandate

At its 26th session, on 26 June 2014, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 26/9 by which it decided “to establish an open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, whose mandate shall be to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises.”
The open-ended intergovernmental working group (OEIGWG) has had five sessions so far.  Ahead of the fifth session, the Permanent Mission of Ecuador, on behalf of the Chairmanship of the OEIGWG, released a revised draft legally binding instrument on business activities and human rights. The revised draft served as the basis for direct substantive intergovernmental negotiations during the fifth session of the OEIGWG, which was held from 14 to 18 October 2019, in Geneva. The report of the fifth session is available here.

Please note the updated information about upcoming intersessional consultations:

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights presents its compliments to all Permanent and Observers Missions to the United Nations Office in Geneva, specialized agencies, other intergovernmental organizations, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations and has the honour to inform of the following:

• At the final meeting of its fifth session, the Open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights (OEIGWG) took note with appreciation of the recommendations of the Chair-Rapporteur and looked forward to the second revised draft legally binding instrument, the informal consultations, and the updated programme of work for its sixth session, which will be held from 26 to 30 October 2020, as a follow up to the implementation of the mandate of HRC resolution 26/9.


• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and communication earlier this week by UNOG conference services about the impossibility to hold in-person meetings until at least end of May 2020, the first consultation, which was due to take place on Wednesday, 29 April 2020, 15:00-17:00, in Room V of the Palais des Nations, has been postponed. The second open informal consultation, which will now be the first consultation, planned on Friday, 29 May 2020, 10:00-12:00, is maintained but will take place online. Details about how to access and take part in the virtual consultation will be shared in due course.


• Following this first virtual consultation on 29 May, options will be explored to hold another consultation in June, at a date and format to be announced at a later stage, taking into account the calendar of the HRC meetings, including in particular the HRC 44th session.


• This series of consultations will be a complement to the discussions held during the fifth session of the OEIGWG; the two annexes of the report of the fifth session containing respectively a compilation of written statements and a compilation of the concrete textual suggestions presented by States during the fifth session; the additional textual suggestions on the draft legally binding instrument received until the end of February 2020, in accordance with the Chair-Rapporteur's recommendation 101 (a)–(c); and the ongoing bilateral consultations and other related activities undertaken by the Chairmanship in preparation of the sixth session of the OEIGWG.


• The two annexes mentioned above, can been found on the website of the OEIGWG at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/WGTransCorp/Session5/Pages/Session5.aspx.


• The participation of other relevant stakeholders in the series of consultations mentioned above will follow the procedure of the previous sessions of the OEIGWG, without prejudice to any additional information to be posted on the website of the Working Group.


• The participation of other relevant stakeholders in the series of consultations mentioned above will follow the procedure of the previous sessions of the OEIGWG, without prejudice to any additional information to be posted on the website of the Working Group.


• The following link should be used to register to participate in the virtual informal open consultation to be held on Friday 29^th May, from 10:00 to 12:00 CET.
  https://indico.un.org/event/34503/


• All representatives wishing to participate in this virtual meeting need to register via this link. The registration will remain open until 18:00 CET on Thursday 28^th May in order to allow the Secretariat to process registrations. A link to join the virtual meeting will be subsequently sent to those that registered through the system. Please note that the link is unique to each registered participant and cannot be shared.


• Separate information about how to participate in the consultation as well as additional technical information will be provided early next week and at the beginning of the meeting.


• Another virtual open informal consultation will be organized on Friday 12^th June, from 10:00 to 12:00 CET and additional information will be provided in due time.


• For further enquiries, please send a message to igwg-tncs@ohchr.org.

• Report on the fifth session of the open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights
• Annex with the compilation of oral statements delivered by States during the 5th session
• Annex with the compilation of concrete textual suggestions made during the 5th session
• Revised draft legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises
• Updated non-exhaustive list of instruments and documents used as sources for the preparation of the revised draft legally binding instrument
• Report of the fourth session and Addendum
• Zero draft optional protocol to the zero draft legally binding instrument
• Zero draft legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises