Analysis of the UN 2023 Updated Draft Legally Binding Instrument on business and human rights
Authors: Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski, Stephanie Regalia and Otgontuya Davaanyam, School of Law, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
A new study commissioned by CIDSE offers an analysis of the main changes introduced in the UN Updated Draft released last July, which will form the basis for negotiations for a Legally Binding Instrument (LBI) on business and human rights at the 9th session of the UN Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group (OEIGWG) on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights. (Geneva, 23-27 October 2023)
The following aspects of the Legally Binding Instrument are examined in the publication, which includes specific recommendations to negotiators for textual revisions:
- Legal liability
- Access to remedy
- Human rights and environmental defenders
- The concept of due diligence
- The impact of the LBI on trade and investment policies
While the Updated Draft contains some improvements and useful clarifications, the analysis shows that the changes make the text less ambitious in an effort to facilitate consensus and that it retains provisions and approaches previously considered problematic.
This study is an initiative of the CIDSE Corporate Power Working Group which consists of the following organisations:
Cover photo: Community leader Maria Felicita Lopez, a member of the Lenca indigenous community in Honduras. Maria’s community near La Paz in western Honduras was divided in two when work on a hydro-dam began in 2009. Credit: Simon Burch/Trócaire.
This study was co-funded by the European Union.