"Report on the 4th Session of the IGWG meeting held in Geneva from 15 to 19 October 2018"

This report is prepared for the African Coalition for Corporate Accountability (ACCA) community in light of the ACCA’s participation in the 4th session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group (OEIGWG) on Business and Human Rights, which took place in Geneva from 15 to 19 of October 2018...

As a member of the Treaty Alliance (TA), the ACCA attended a number of meetings and gatherings organised by the TA. The ACCA put forward a number of meaningful suggestions during these different meeting arranged by the TA. Some of the ideas put forward by the ACCA during these meetings included: - Supporting access to remedy for victims of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) violations included in the Zero Draft;- Ensuring that a direct obligation be addressed to TNCs as duty bearer to uphold rights of all; - The application of this binding instrument should be applied to any businesses, regardless of transnational nature and its ultimate goal is to eliminate corporate abuses...

Participants present at this meeting agreed that African CSOs should endeavour to advocate in the following ways: - engage with representatives of African governments who are not participating in these plenary sessions and explore ideas on how CSOs can assist them in improving their participation; - the key message to take to African delegates should be to call upon African delegates to fully participate in the session; States should engage with other states to ensure States’ full support of the Legally Binding Treaty, and encourage their active participation; - assess ways in which CSOs can assist African countries to participate fully in the process.