Towards a Transformative Treaty on Business and Human Rights

COVID-19 has further revealed poor human rights practices by businesses in the absence of legal regulation. The treatment of supply chain workers, migrant workers and those in precarious work, mostly women, represents an unsustainable and unjust business model of profit at the expense of human rights. These cases further demonstrate why corporations need to be legally required to assess and address negative human rights impact across their value chains. The UN treaty process is a critical opportunity to address gaps in holding transnational corporations and other business enterprises to account for human rights abuses. This paper examines the current draft treaty proposal, outlines key principles required for the development of an effective and transformative UN binding treaty, and sets out the collective position of the Irish Coalition for Business and Human Rights with specific suggestions on amendments to strengthen the draft treaty text.