2023-24 Trócaire Annual ROI Annual Report
Download HereThe United Nations process for a binding international treaty on business and human rights reached its ten-year anniversary during the week of 16-20 December, 2024 in Geneva. Rather than a celebration, however, it must be seen as a sad landmark given the scale of corporate abuses of human rights and the environment during the intervening period.
Since the treaty process began in 2014, human rights defenders suffered at least 5,300 attacks linked to the raising of concerns about corporate behaviour, while over 2,000 environmental and land defenders have been murdered since 2012.
Justice delayed is justice denied…
Nevertheless, some important advances were made during the Tenth Session even while other longstanding concerns remained.
Preparations for the Tenth Session were thrown into chaos in September when the Chair-Rapporteur of the process, Ecuador, unilaterally postponed the session from its October slot to the final week before Christmas. In response, civil society coalitions sent a letter objecting to the decision, noting its disproportionate impact on grassroots movements and Global South activists. This last-minute postponement not only had huge financial implications (the cost of cancelled flights and accommodation was estimated at $150,000) but effectively excluded many southern voices – an absence repeatedly mentioned during the negotiations.
In contrast to the chaos of the Ninth Session, Ambassador Marcelo Vázquez Bermúdez – an experienced UN diplomat – took a calm, methodical and largely transparent approach. As a result, the process advanced steadily, completing reviews of Article 4 to 11. Another change was the participation of the new Group of Legal Experts established this year, who responded to specific questions on international law. Despite early misgivings, most participants welcomed the addition of the experts – with the exception of the US, UK and business representatives, who appeared unhappy with their views on issues such as international recognition of the Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment. Looking ahead, the Chair’s ambitious roadmap offers hope that the next three years will see a rapid acceleration toward a binding treaty.
The Tenth Session saw greater overall presence and participation of states, with 76 countries or territories (including Ireland) present at some point, with many giving general statements. Nevertheless, the real business of negotiations was confined to a smaller number of states, predominantly from the Global South, with Colombia, Ghana, Panama, Brazil, Palestine and Mexico particularly vocal. Brazil’s call for a broad definition of “victims” to include “affected persons and communities”, for example, attracted significant support.
As noted in analysis published by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, however, the success of the treaty “depends on robust political commitment from states”. In that context, the ongoing failure of the EU to adopt a negotiating mandate remains both puzzling and disappointing.
Puzzling because last year the EU indicated that the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) “could form a basis for the EU’s future involvement in the negotiations”. Despite the adoption of the CSDDD in July 2024, as well as a vote by MEPs in January 2024 calling on the Commission and Member States to actively engage in the process, the EU continues to drag its feet.
Disappointing because, as a result of this failure, the EU’s contribution has been limited to occasional general statements. This means that after ten years, Member States like Ireland have played no role whatsoever in shaping what could be a hugely significant treaty that will effectively break new ground in international law. If Ireland is to make good on its key foreign policy principles, it must push the EU to break this stasis.
4. Human Rights Abusers Were Still in the Room…
Expressions of concern regarding corporate capture were common during the Tenth Session, with civil society and some states strongly objecting to the participation of international business in the negotiations. Recalling that the Treaty process was established by UN Resolution in 2014 to address grave corporate human rights abuses around the world (such as the Rana Plaza Disaster) and regulate transnational business, the formal participation of business is troubling.
What is more, the contribution of the three international business associations present was largely negative: pushing back on the rights of victims, legal liability and transnational jurisdiction; arguing in favour of domestic enforcement and alignment with the UN Guiding Principles (a purely voluntary approach); agreeing frequently with the arguments of the Russian delegation; and even threatening the Global South with the spectre of “divestment” if regulations are too strong. In other words, business wants “business as usual”…
Civil society organisations referred to the UN Tobacco Convention, where Big Tobacco was explicitly excluded from the negotiation process, and called for business to be removed. Meanwhile the State of Palestine proposed that all parties with conflicts of interest be barred from the room. Whether such calls were heard by the UN, however, is doubtful. Instead, the approach of working with business was affirmed by UN High Commissioner for Human Right, Volker Türk, in his opening address entitled: “Business needs human rights and human rights needs business”.
5. …But So Was Palestine
With Israel on trial for genocide at the ICJ and ongoing illegal occupations – and the role of transnational business in supporting and profiting from these international law violations – brought added urgency and clarity to the week. Visual and verbal references to Palestine were woven into numerous interventions, while the proposals from the Palestinian delegation argued unwaveringly for the primacy of human rights and defence of civil society space.
Notable was a video message from Trócaire partner Al-Haq during a side event, which sent the clear message: “Corporations are not neutral”. This and other interventions highlighted the complicity of a range of transnational corporations and their investors in the provision of goods and services contributing to genocide, human rights abuses and forced displacement.
These messages are echoed in the most recent report of the Don’t Buy into Occupation Coalition which found that between January 2021 and August 2024, 822 European banks, asset managers, insurance companies, and pension funds provided $211 billion in lending and underwriting and held $182 billion in shares and bonds in 58 companies involved in illegal settlement activities.
Finally, Trócaire is proud to have been accompanied during the Tenth Session by the Xinka Parliament of Guatemala, as part of our commitment to increasing the voice and influence of partners. The Xinka indigenous people live in the shadow of a huge Canadian-owned silver mine that threatens their health, territories and cultural identity. In response to years of intimidation and violent attacks, Xinka Parliament representatives gave a moving opening statement, ending with this question for delegates:
“After 15 years of struggles and losses – many irreparable – we, the representatives of the Xinka peoples, ask you this question: how much longer shall we wait?”