"Forum ends with no substantial progress: Isolated changes fail to track the defense of companies and the meeting ends without solutions for victims", 11 Dec 2014

In theory, the format of the event was devised to give States, business enterprises and civil society an equal voice. In practice, however, the structure catered to the concerns of the organizers to not subject the representatives of the private sector to embarrassment – in order to maintain their engagement in the application of the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights...As such, just like the Regional Forum held in Medellín in August of this year, what occurred in Geneva this week was a “theatrical dialogue” marked by the absence of real opportunities to openly confront the facts and the arguments of the private sector. Once again, it was ignored that only a frank dialogue is capable of generating change – even though, for this to occur, harsh words need to be spoken and embarrassments tolerated...The WG has been the subject of harsh criticism over the restrictive interpretation of its mandate, the lack of an adequate process for handling complaints and the lack of commitment to the victims. These issues had been expected to be addressed during the Forum...In its coverage of the Forum, Conectas asked the question: will impunity be taken seriously?  The answer that can be taken away from the meeting, regrettably, is no...