The Human Rights Council just adopted a
resolution presented by Ecuador and South Africa that establishes an
intergovernmental working group with the mandate of developing an
international legally binding instrument to regulate the activities of
transnational corporations.
“This is a historic decision that can potentially contribute to end
the impunity that transnational corporations too often enjoy for the
human rights violations committed, in particular in developing
countries, and ensure access to justice for the victims of their
activities”, said Melik Özden, Director of the Europe-Third World
Centre (CETIM), an organization based in Geneva that has been fighting
for many years for new binding norms.
The western countries have attempted till the last minute to oppose
this resolution using all means available to pressure other member
states of the Human Rights Council. The vote was requested by the US
delegation. The resolution was finally adopted by 20 votes in favor,
14 against and 13 abstentions. All western states members of the Human
Rights Council voted against the resolution. The great majority of
developing countries, including most of African states as well as
China, India and Russia, voted in favor.
“We can only regret the non-constructive attitude ow western countries
that choose too privilege the interests of transnational corporations
over the protection of human rights”, added M. Özden. “They have also
already announced that they will not participate in the work of the
intergovernmental working group.”
The working group will held its first session in 2015 to define the
elements, the scope, the nature and the form of the future
international instrument. “This is only the beginning of the process,
but that represents already a big victory for the peoples of the
world, and in particular for the victims in developing countries, that
have been demanding binding norms to end corporate impunity since many
years”, highlighted M. Özden.
While TNCs have a number of binding laws, mechanisms and instruments
available to defend their interests, only voluntary codes of conducts
and soft laws exist to control their impacts on human rights and
ensure access to justice for the victims of their activities. “It was
time for the Human Rights Council to act to correct this asymmetry in
the international system that affects primarily the poorest and
weakest countries”, said M. Özden
Since several months hundreds of civil society organizations and
social movements in the Global North as in the Global South are
mobilizing to support this initiative. A number of them gathered in
Geneva for a week of mobilization from 23 to 27 June. Many delegates
from the Global South and representatives of the victims came to
demand new binding norms to end corporate impunity. The CETIM has been
strongly involved together with the Global campaign to dismantle
corporate power and stop impunity. The cases of Chevron in Ecuador,
Coca Cola in Colombia, Shell in Nigeria, Glencore-Xstrata in the
Philippines, and Oceana Gold in El Salvador, among others, have been
presented to demonstrate the need for a new international instrument
“In 60 years of oil exploitation in the Niger Delta, local communities
have known no rest”, said Godwin Ojo, of Friends of the Earth Nigeria.
“Shell has systematically violated human rights and destroyed the
environment as well as the livelihoods of communities but neither
international campaigns nor national laws and regulation agencies have
been able to end those practices. This level of impunity demonstrate
the need for a binding international instrument that forces TNCs to
respect human rights.”
“In 26 years of oil exploitation in the Ecuadorian amazon, Chevron
has polluted more than 450’000 hectares of one of the planet's richest
biodiversity regions, destroying the living and subsistence of its
inhabitants” explained Pablo Fajardo, defensor and representative of
the victims of Chevron in Ecuador. “And after 21 years of litigation
and in spite of a sentence of the Ecuadorian justice, Chevron still
refuses to pay. And in the meanwhile, the victims of its activities in
Ecuador are still waiting for justice and compensation”, he added.
“Voluntary codes of conduct have clearly shown their limits, only a
binding international instrument can end the impunity of TNCs.”
“Dozens of union leaders are murdered each year in Colombia with
complete impunity” said Javier Correa, president of the union
Sinaltrainal in Colombia. “In the case of Sinaltrainal, 23 of our
affiliates working for Coca Cola or Nestlé have been murdered in the
past years. And those TNCs use complex schemes of subsidiaries,
subcontractors and franchises to escape justice. The Colombian justice
is not doing its job and courts in the US and Switzerland, where those
two TNCs have their headquarters, refuse to hear the cases”, he added.
“Only binding international norms will enable us to hold TNCs
accountable for their crimes in Colombia”.
The journey will still be long but today, and after nearly 40 years of
discussions and failed attempts at the United Nations, the process is
finally launched! The CETIM would like to congratulate the governments
of Ecuador and South Africa for their leadership, as well as all other
states that voted in favor of that resolution in spite of the numerous
pressures received.
Contact: Laurent Gaberell, CETIM, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 076 379 39 21
See also enclosed the press release of the Global campaign to
dismantle corporate power and stop impunity.
For more information see the CETIM's newsletter n° 47 and n°43, the
Critical report n°10 and the Booklet n°2.
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