In 2014, a people’s victory was celebrated at the United Nations Human Rights Council: the adoption of Resolution 26/9. This established a new Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) to develop an international legally binding instrument to regulate transnational corporations and other companies with respect to human rights.

The process towards a binding treaty

Every year, the Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples’ Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and End Impunity participates in a round of negotiations of the draft treaty. These now take place virtually and in-person in Geneva. Friends of the Earth International joins the Campaign. Alongside other allies including the Treaty Alliance, we also prepare a week of mobilisation in parallel to the negotiations.

Companies systematically put profits before the environment and people’s rights. Many transnational corporations are richer and more powerful than the states that should be regulating them in the public interest. Too often, big business captures political decision-making spaces, such as UN negotiations, in order to shape environmental policies to suit its interests. Businesses are too well protected and rarely held to account for their abuses.

We need a legally binding treaty to pave the way for justice for victims and to hold corporations to account. Relying on businesses to voluntarily regulate themselves simply does not work.

The answer? Rights for people, rules for business.

“It is a time for a legally binding instrument to control transnational corporations with respect to human rights. A treaty that also gives victims of corporate abuses access to justice where there is none and challenges the economic and political power of TNCs.” – Letícia Paranhos, Friends of the Earth International

This page provides Friends of the Earth groups, allies, civil society organisations and interested public with resources for action. Click +View all resources below to find historical information and resources related to the treaty process.

Join us on social media around the hashtag #BindingTreaty, as we mobilise and advocate for a binding treaty to stop corporate impunity. Together, we can hold transnational corporations to account for human rights violations.