A UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights: Bridging the Gap for Corporate Responsibility

Abstract: Since the 1970’s there has been several attempts within the UN at drafting a binding instrument on business and human rights. Up until today, none of the attempts at adopting binding standards have succeeded, with the only successful initiative being the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights – a voluntary set of guiding principles meant to further the respect for human rights among both states and businesses. In 2013, Ecuador released a statement backed by a large group of governments that called for a binding treaty to provide remedy for victims of human rights abuses by transnational corporations and other business enterprises. In 2014 the statement was backed by a plurality of the member states of the UN Human Rights Council, which then went on to pass a resolution to establish an open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group responsible for drafting a legally binding treaty on business and human rights. The main objective of the treaty is to fill the legal void present within international human rights law, addressing pressing issues such as corporate impunity under weak rule of law and obstacles to victim’s access to remedy. The thesis separates and identifies the main themes and issues of the treaty process and the legal void present within today’s insufficient legislation, and analyses the options for addressing the legal issues that allows corporations avoid accountability and leave victims without redress. The analysis is enhanced by a comparative perspective on the previous attempts undertaken by the UN, drawing conclusions based on the arguments presented during past negotiations.