Week of Action to Stop Corporate Impunity – CIDSE

Week of Action to Stop Corporate Impunity

In parallel with the first session of the UN intergovernmental working group, human rights advocates from across the world will gather in Geneva to denounce corporate abuse and impunity.

The first session of the open-ended intergovernmental working group (IGWG) towards a Treaty on Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and other business enterprises with regards to human rights, will take place from 6-10 July in Geneva, paving the way for stopping corporate impunity. CIDSE, together with other partners from the Treaty Alliance, will be following up discussions and co-organizing side events to give a voice to the demands of wider civil society.

The week of mobilization will bring together representatives from social movements and grassroots organizations -often those most affected by human rights abuses, thereby emphasizing the real consequences of corporate impunity on the ground, as well as the need to have access to an effective remedy. Activities are expected to take place both in an out the UN – Palais des Nations building, and throughout the first IGWG session.

In particular, CIDSE together with FIAN International, Franciscans International, The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and Friends of the Earth will be co-organizing two side events on 6 and 7 July. The first side event on 6 July at 13:00 will look into “The Impact of Transnational corporations and Other Businesses on Grassroots communities” in room XXIV. The second side event, on 7 July at 13:00 in room XXIV will focus on “The impact of transnational corporations and other business enterprises, and the need of international regulation from the social movements’ perspective.”

The 910-organization Treaty Alliance has been working together towards a legally binding instrument since 2013, when it first released a series of demands, including the passage of a UN Human Rights Council Resolution to establish an IGWG with a mandate to develop the treaty. Ahead of the first session of the IGWG, the Treaty Alliance issued a second statement with some specifications on how processes, scope and content should be approached.

CIDSE hopes that the human rights-based mobilization further ensures that States actively participate in good-faith and constructively with the development of the treaty, as well as, together with the IGWG, safeguard their integrity from undue influence by actors from or related to the private sector.

For more information about the week of mobilization, please see the agenda.

Follow the IGWG session and TA activities via #StopCorporateAbuse

Contact:
Valentina Pavarotti
Communications Officer
pavarotti(at)cidse.org

Note to the editors:
CIDSE is part of a greater coalition of NGOs behind the conflict minerals campaign

-About CIDSE
CIDSE is an international alliance of Catholic development agencies. Its members share a common strategy in their efforts to eradicate poverty and establish global justice. www.cidse.org

CIDSE members are: Broederlijk Delen (Belgium), CAFOD (England and Wales), CCFD – Terre Solidaire (France), Center of Concern (USA), Cordaid (the Netherlands), Development & Peace (Canada), Entraide et Fraternité (Belgium), eRko (Slovakia), Fastenopfer (Switzerland), FEC (Portugal), FOCSIV (Italy), Fondation Bridderlech Deelen (Luxembourg), KOO (Austria), Manos Unidas (Spain), MISEREOR (Germany), SCIAF (Scotland), Trócaire (Ireland)

CIDSE_press_release_TA_-Geneva_1July.pdf

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