This week the United Nations will negotiate a treaty that seeks to hold transnational corporations accountable for human rights violations.

The European Union should actively endorse it and demonstrate its commitment to human rights standards...

As various leaks have shown, [TNCs] barely pay taxes in the countries in which they operate...

TNCs thus erode the capacity of states to provide the public goods that societies need to thrive. But they are also pushing other corporations to do their dirty work for them, while hiding behind the corporate veil...

The treaty proposes to impose a duty on TNCs to restructure their internal operations to fully account for the human rights risks connected with their operations.

It also allows victims to turn to the home courts of the TNCs, which are currently systematically refusing to deal with such cases, thus facilitating access to justice...

With the EU on board, such a treaty would significantly affect the way business is conducted across the globe, as it would cover a critical mass of TNCs' home countries...