SIDE EVENT
On the occasion of the 35th session of UN Human Rights Council, Friends of the Earth International, Corporate Accountability International, Transnational Institute, La Via Campesina, Europe Third World Centre (CETIM) and Human Rights and Business Centre/UFJF (HOMA), as members of the Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity are pleased to invite you to participate in the side event on:
The risks of corporate power concentration to human and peoples’ rights: the need for a Binding Treaty
Wednesday, June 7th, 2017, 15.00 – 16.30. Palais des Nations, Room XXV
Speakers:
Manoela Carneiro Roland, Brazil, HOMA Human Rights and Business Centre/UFJF
The insufficiency of UNGPs to protect Human Rights from TNCs operation: a critical overview of National Action Plans
Wašté Win Young, Wichiyena Dakota and Hunkpapa Lakota from Standing Rock. (TBC)
Indigenous Peoples Rights and the need for finance sector control: Dakota Access Pipeline
Abeer Abtumeh, Palestine, PENGON – Friends of the Earth Palestine
Corporate impunity in 50 years of Palestine Occupation: Mekorot against human right to water
Tchenna Maso / Federico Minozzi – La Via Campesina
How Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is unable to address the needs of affected people. State-corporate complicity: the case of Doce River environmental crime in Brazil
Brid Brennan – Transnational Institute
Advancements of the Permanent Peoples Tribunal on corporate impunity in Southern África
Nathalie Rengifo, Corporate Accountability International
Corporate capture and interference in international policy making: examples and ways to resist
Facilitation: Karin Nansen – FoEI Chair
After almost 40 years from Salvador Allende’s speech at the UN General Assembly, that was the starting point on the agenda regarding Transnational Corporations and Human Rights, the scenario is even worse. That can be noticed in the current context of concentration of economic and political power of transnational corporations (TNCs), in which Human Rights violations and violence against environmental and Human Rights defenders worldwide reach unprecedented levels. Despite of this urgent concern, the international legal system is still unable to find an effective response. Therefore, this Side Event intends to discuss the need for stepping further on voluntary approaches based on UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and to establish rules for transnational corporations in the framework of a new UN Binding Treaty on TNCs other business and Human Rights. To emphasize this need, the Side Event will present a range of different approaches, going from results of scientific researches regarding the perpetration of regulatory gaps through the National Action Plans to testimonies of the affected communities. This year is crucial to the referred discussions, once the negotiation of the binding instrument is due to start at the third Intergovernmental Working Groups session on October 2017. As prior mentioned, it is an historical demand of affected communities, social movements and organizations to protect Human Rights, people’s sovereignty and their territories, as well as to reinforce state’s role in regulating business and protecting peoples’ interests. The Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity, a network of more than 200 organisations and movements active at the international level, will present concrete proposal for an UN Binding Treaty text, taking under consideration the voices of affected communities from Brazil, South Africa, Palestine and United States.
Interpretation to Spanish and English
Organizers: Friends of the Earth International, Corporate Accountability International, Transnational Institute, La Via Campesina, Europe Third World Centre (CETIM) and Human Rights and Business Centre/UFJF (HOMA), Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity
Contacts: Mónica Vargas (m.vargas@tni.org), Raffaele Morgantini (CETIM, contact@cetim.ch)
