Editor’s
note: Shamistha Selvaratnam is a LLM Candidate of the Advanced Masters of
European and International Human Rights Law at Leiden University in the
Netherlands. Prior to commencing the LLM, she worked as a business and human
rights solicitor in Australia where she specialised in promoting business respect for human rights through engagement with
policy, law and practice.
From 15 to 19 October 2018, the fourth session of the open-ended
intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other
business enterprises with respect to human rights took place in Geneva. 92 UN States
participated in the session along with a range of stakeholders, including
intergovernmental organisations, business organisations, special procedures of
the Human Rights Council and national human rights institutions. The focus of
the session was on the zero draft of the proposed binding business and human
rights treaty (from herein referred to as the
‘treaty’).
This blog sets out the key views and
suggestions made by those in attendance with respect to the treaty during the
session.[1]
Issues and areas of concern raised at the session generally aligned with the critiques
raised by commentators on the first draft of the treaty (which are set out in a
previous
blog). More...