Morning session:

The morning of the fifth and final day of the 11th session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group (OEIWG) began with private informal consultations among states and the OEIWG to prepare the draft report, recommendations of the Chair and conclusions of the Working Group. Later in the morning, the public session reconvened, and these were officially adopted by consensus.

The Chairperson Rapporteur then opened the floor to concluding statements in which states thanked the Chair Rapporteur for a productive week of negotiations. Several states, such as Colombia and Cameroon, and the EU, commended the positive contribution of the intersessional consultations to the process. Many countries also expressed their gratitude for the participation of legal experts.

Countries such as Brazil, Palestine, and Cameroon reaffirmed their commitment to a Legally Binding Instrument (LBI) that embeds human rights obligations in corporate practices. Brazil and Colombia called for the LBI process to take into account the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Saudi Arabia underlined that any future LBI should not contradict existing legal systems and should avoid overlapping with other frameworks, particularly those addressing environmental or climate-related obligations.

The US Council for International Business (USCIB) and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) observed that active state participation remains limited. They noted challenges such as documents being shared at short notice and their proliferation, diverting attention from the discussion. They also criticised what they described as a “complete lack of engagement” with the business community and called for a comprehensive rethink of the process.

Civil society organisations, for their part, reiterated their full commitment to the treaty process due to the persistence of corporate impunity for human rights abuses. They called for strong provisions to ensure that the treaty can effectively achieve its goal of ending corporate impunity.

In closing, the Chairperson-Rapporteur thanked states and non-state stakeholders for their active and constructive participation, noting that it demonstrates a general commitment from the international community to do their best to make headway towards the adoption of the treaty, and formally concluded the 11th session.

The recording of the morning session is available on UN TV here.