The historic 10th session of negotiations for a UN treaty to hold transnational corporations (TNCs) accountable for their human rights violations (Binding Treaty) has drawn to a close in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Within the context of the ongoing genocide in Palestine fueled by TNCs, forced displacement of communities due to large-scale energy projects, and continued corporate land and water-grabbing, such a Treaty has never been more important. This year, negotiations centred on the rights and protection of victims, affected persons and communities and on the future Treaty’s ability to hold TNCs liable throughout their value chains...

The Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples’ Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity (Global Campaign) brought the voices of the communities and social movements affected by corporate crime, making sure that the true protagonists of this process are also represented in the room. 

“We’re reflecting now on the past ten years of negotiations and recognising what a historic feat it is that this process exists, that we’re ever closer to securing access to justice for those affected by corporate crimes. This week we’ve been able to take major strides toward a just and effective Binding Treaty. Contrary to previous years, it seems that the new Chair is really committed to actually facilitating negotiations rather than obstructing them.”

Maxine Bezuidenhout
Alternative Information and Development Centre...

Following a trend to open multilateral decision-making spaces to corporate representatives – a phenomenon called multistakeholderism – very visible during the Summit of the Future and the most recent climate COP, their presence in the room was highly contested...

On the side of content issues, delegates also discussed the methodology to inform the debates during the period in-between sessions, the focus of the final day and a half of the talks...