Ecuador’s proposal for a treaty to regulate human rights violations linked to or perpetrated by multinational corporations and other business entities is the latest in a much-divided series of debates around international law, business and human rights...[T]here are three important points to consider in deliberations around this treaty proposal. The first is the ‘who’. Who is bringing the treaty proposal to the international table? It is of extraordinary relevance that the entity bringing the proposal forward is a state from the Global South...The second key consideration is the question of the ‘what’. What is being called for in terms of this treaty?...The third relevant point about the treaty is the question of its usefulness. One of the dividing questions around a treaty is: is it worth the wait?...A treaty is a good idea but it is only part of a solution. And that solution lies in the unlawfulness of structural poverty...How can we continue to have the business and human rights discussion without a very clear commitment to a harmonisation of trade interests that will not only seek to benefit some, but will ultimately assist to alleviate the systems of poverty that create the context in which corporate violations thrive.