Corporate impunity, legal protection of refugees and migrants (statements to UN)

Corporate impunity, legal protection of refugees and migrants (statements to UN)

The ICJ today delivered an oral statement at the UN Human Rights Council, addressing global responses to corporate impunity, and addresing the role of judges and lawyers in relation to refugees and migrants.

The statement came in a clustered interactive dialogue with the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants. These independent experts appointed by the Council were presenting their respective annual reports to the Council.

The ICJ stated as follows:

The ICJ welcomes the Study of the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, on cross-border cooperation between States with respect to law enforcement in relevant cases (A/HRC/35/33). The ICJ concurs with the Working Group’s concern for the “lack of political will by States to address business-related human rights abuses through the lens of criminal law” (para. 4) and the near-total lack of investigations and prosecutions against companies regarding human rights abuses and international crimes (para. 87).

The ICJ also concurs that a global approach is needed to address corporate impunity and supports the Working Group’s recommendations for adoption of legal frameworks imposing liability on legal entities (para. 93), creation of specialized investigative and prosecutorial units in cross-border human rights cases, and joint investigations. The ICJ would like to ask how the Working Group will support States to put these recommendations into practice?

The ICJ also welcomes the proposal of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants for a 2035 agenda for facilitating human mobility. We particularly support the goal of effective access to justice for all migrants, and the targets and indicators on access to lawyers and courts for this goal, and in relation to returns and detention.

The ICJ has published a set of Principles on the Role of Judges and Lawyers in Relation to Refugees and Migrants, developed in consultation with leading practitioners and experts from around the world. We encourage States and other actors to take account of the detailed guidance in the ICJ Principles, including during the process for adoption of the Global Compacts foreseen by the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, and in considering the Special Rapporteur’s proposal. We would like to ask the Special Rapporteur how States can better recognise and enable the role of judges and lawyers in relation to migrants?

The Chair of the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, in his concluding remarks, recognised the statement of the ICJ, and answered that the Working Group plans to follow up its report with a continuing conversation about its recommendations, and will reach out to stakeholders for further consultation on what more the WG can do in this regard.

The Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants also recognised the statement of the ICJ, and in his reponse emphasised that access to justice for migrants is key, including competent well-resourced lawyers, access to meaningful recourse, better funding for National Human Rights Institutions and ombudspersons, and providing in administrative law procedural safeguards that are commensurate to the risks that migrants face when such decisions are applied to them.

Dialogue with business leaders on treaty on human rights and business

Dialogue with business leaders on treaty on human rights and business

Representatives of large European business enterprises met today with State delegates and representatives of FIDH and the ICJ in Geneva to discuss their views on a prospective international treaty on business and human rights.

The meeting was organized by the FIDH and ICJ and took place under Chatham House rules.

The United Nations Human Rights Council started in 2014 an intergovernmental process towards an international treaty concerning business and the protection human rights.

The first draft elements of that treaty should be discussed in October 2017, after two years of preparatory consultations among the concerned stakeholders.

The meeting in Geneva took place in the context of growing involvement by key business leaders in international discussions, in dialogue with civil society and governments, around global human rights standards.

Business representatives present in the meeting expressed their views regarding the content of a future international treaty founded on their need to have level playing field regarding human rights responsibilities to operate in global markets.

They pointed out that the new treaty should apply to all businesses, go beyond the existing frameworks and create a framework for a fair human rights based competition among businesses towards higher standards.

State delegates and NGOs representatives also shared their perspectives noting that the current circumstances call for bolder collective action as a matter of urgency.

Most participants underlined the key role that State agencies should play in enforcing the rules at the local level and in protecting their people.

Finally, a call was made for businesses, civil society and governments to take their responsibility to promote global human rights binding rules for business operations, including in the global marketplace.

 

Transnational Corporation Working Group: Joint UN Statement

Transnational Corporation Working Group: Joint UN Statement

The ICJ made a joint statement on the report of the Open-ended intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises.

The intervention was made at the United Nations Human Rights Council on behalf of Franciscans International, International Commission of Jurists, Colombian Commission of Jurists and the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH). All are members of the civil society coalition: “Treaty Alliance”.

The statement read as follows:

Our organizations welcome the report on the second session of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with respect to human rights.

We are encouraged by the growing participation of States and other stakeholders in interesting and constructive discussions but remain concerned by the failure of some States to truly engage constructively with the process.

Civil society groups documented in these years countless cases of business involvement in human rights abuses. This demonstrates that existing mechanisms could be useful but are not sufficient and that a new binding instrument at the global level is needed.

The treaty should address all business enterprises and give States the tools to tackle the particular challenges posed by transnational corporations, providing the necessary protection to victims of human rights abuses, including Human Rights defenders who are targeted for their work and opinion.

Access to effective remedy and reparations remain problematic at the domestic and cross-border levels. In order to achieve the effective protection of human rights from business related abuses, the treaty should build on and go beyond existing international human rights standards and instruments.

We call on the Chair-Rapporteur  to present a draft elements paper in accordance with the mandate of the Open ended Working Group. This paper should be as detailed as possible and reflect the discussions of the first two sessions, in order to facilitate the start of meaningful negotiations at the third session in October 2017.

We urge all stakeholders, especially States, to engage in constructive and substantive discussions on the content and scope of this instrument in the perspective of the third session.

The statement can be downloaded in PDF format here: HRC34-Joint Statement-IGWG Transnational Corporations-Advocacy 2017

The process towards a treaty on business and human rights: a roundtable multistakeholder discussion

The process towards a treaty on business and human rights: a roundtable multistakeholder discussion

The ICJ convenes today a roundtable at the United Nations gathering several stakeholders to discuss on a possible future treaty on business and human rights.

Tuesday 25 October, 2016

13:00 to 15:00 hrs

Room XXVII- Palais des Nations

The second session of the Open Ended Intergovernmental Working Group to elaborate a legally binding instrument on Transnational Corporations and other business enterprises in relation to human rights, offers the opportunity to significantly advance the process of establishing an effective treaty that assist in preventing and addressing business related human rights abuses. Advancing the process will require stakeholders to reach a common platform of understanding on some core concepts and foundational elements before textual details can be elaborated and negotiated.

The objective of the roundtable is to assist in this process by creating a space for various stakeholders to address issues of importance for the treaty process from diverse points of view with the goal of enhancing mutual understanding among stakeholders of concepts and element that can serve as the basis for possible agreement for the future. This panel has a multistakeholder nature with a view to create a space of dialogue and understanding among the most important actors of the process.

Moderator:
Mr Ian Seiderman, Legal and Policy Director, International Commission of Jurists

Speakers:
Mr Ariel Meyerstein- United States Council of International Business, representing the International Organization of Employers
Mrs Makbule Sahan, Legal Advisor, International Trade Union Confederation
Prof Douglas Cassel, School of Law, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, United States
Prof Surya Deva, member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
Mr Humberto Cantú Rivera, Researcher at University of Panthéon-Assas, Paris II
Mrs Debbie Stothard, Secretary-General, International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH)

icj-side-event-2nd-session-flyer (download the flyer)

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