“UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights: What the 11th Session Delivered and What Comes Next”, 26 January 2026

What moved forward in the UN binding treaty negotiations

Under the chairpersonship of H.E. Marcelo Vázquez Bermúdez (Ecuador), Member States advanced article-by-article negotiations on Articles 12–24 of the draft treaty and held interactive discussions on the Chair’s 13 proposed reformulations of Articles 4–11…

Negotiation dynamics: convergence and pressure on corporate accountability

Throughout the session, civil society consistently pressed for a people-centred, human rights-based UN treaty on business and human rights—not one diluted by corporate profit logic…

Civil society also pushed back against attempts by corporate representatives to weaken the treaty’s jurisdictional standards…

ESCR-Net and allied engagement at the 11th IGWG session

Civil society presence was strong and diverse, with feminist, youth, labour, and Global South peoples’ movements at the centre of the UN treaty negotiations…

Participants from affected communities particularly from the Global South, also stressed that corporate harms are not abstract or isolated, but deeply embedded in global systems of violence, extraction, and repression…

What remains contested in the UN treaty process

Despite progress in negotiations, major debates persist in the negotiations on the UN treaty on business and human rights…

Why the next 18 months matter for corporate accountability

The 11th IGWG session confirmed that the UN treaty on business and human rights has entered its final, politically decisive phase…