In
June 2014, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will discuss the adoption of a resolution to establish
a legally binding instrument to enforce binding rules regarding human rights
and Transnational Corporations (TNCs).
As
a result of ongoing violations of human rights by TNCs such as the 2013 Rana
Plaza disaster in Bangladesh that killed 1,132 factory (mostly female) workers,
the 2012 Marikana massacre of 34 miners in South Africa, the ongoing
destruction caused by Shell in Nigeria’s Ogoniland and by Chevron in the
Ecuadorean Amazon as well as the human rights violations linked to the Cerrejon
Coal mine in Colombia – along with countless others – the need for radical
action to control the devastating violations by TNCs has never been more
urgent.
In
order to push the UNHRC to adopt this type of binding Treaty, a coalition of
social movements, networks and civil society organizations is organizing a full
week of mobilization.
The
goal of the week of mobilization is not only to pressure the UNHRC on the issue
of binding norms for TNCs but also to expose the global political and economic ‘Architecture
of Impunity’ that has been protecting the operations of TNCs at the expense of human
rights for decades through Investment Agreements (and arbitration tribunals such
as World Bank’s ICSID), through the WTO, and a long history of IMF imposed
structural adjustment programs now replicated in Europe through the Troika
& Competitiveness Pact policies and a number of Free Trade Agreements (F
TAs), as well as bilateral F TAs such as NAF TA, FTA EU-Colombia, TTIP, TPP and
TISA, among others.
In
the face of intensifying and increasingly egregious corporate human rights
violations and ecological crimes, impacted communities and social movements demand
access to justice and a definitive end to the systematic impunity which prevails
for transnational corporations.
We invite all of you who are interested in turning the tide to come and join us in Geneva (Switzerland), June 23 – 27 , 2014.
* To know more about the program, the
joint statement, click here.