Historic: the Human Rights Council decides to launch negotiations on new binding international norms concerning the human rights responsibilities of TNCs!

26 June 2014

The Human Rights Council just adopted a resolution presented by Ecuador and South Africa that establishes an intergovernmental working group with the mandate of developing an international legally binding instrument to regulate the activities of transnational corporations.

�This is a historic decision that can potentially contribute to end the impunity that transnational corporations too often enjoy for the human rights violations committed, in particular in developing countries, and ensure access to justice for the victims of their activities�, said Melik �zden, Director of the Europe-Third World Centre (CETIM), an organization based in Geneva that has been fighting for many years for new binding norms.

The western countries have attempted till the last minute to oppose this resolution using all means available to pressure other member states of the Human Rights Council. The vote was requested by the US delegation. The resolution was finally adopted by 20 votes in favor, 14 against and 13 abstentions. All western states members of the Human Rights Council voted against the resolution. The great majority of developing countries, including most of African states as well as China, India and Russia, voted in favor.

�We can only regret the non-constructive attitude of western countries that choose too privilege the interests of transnational corporations over the protection of human rights�, added M. �zden. �They have also already announced that they will not participate in the work of the intergovernmental working group.�

The working group will held its first session in 2015 to define the elements, the scope, the nature and the form of the future international instrument. �This is only the beginning of the process, but that represents already a big victory for the peoples of the world, and in particular for the victims in developing countries, that have been demanding binding norms to end corporate impunity since many years�, highlighted M. �zden.

While TNCs have a number of binding laws, mechanisms and instruments available to defend their interests, only voluntary codes of conducts and soft laws exist to control their impacts on human rights and ensure access to justice for the victims of their activities. �It was time for the Human Rights Council to act to correct this asymmetry in the international system that affects primarily the poorest and weakest countries�, said M. �zden

Since several months hundreds of civil society organizations and social movements in the Global North as in the Global South are mobilizing to support this initiative. A number of them gathered in Geneva for a week of mobilization from 23 to 27 June. Many delegates from the Global South and representatives of the victims came to demand new binding norms to end corporate impunity. The CETIM has been strongly involved together with the Global campaign to dismantle corporate power and stop impunity. The cases of Chevron in Ecuador, Coca Cola in Colombia, Shell in Nigeria, Glencore-Xstrata in the Philippines, and Oceana Gold in El Salvador, among others, have been presented to demonstrate the need for a new international instrument

�In 60 years of oil exploitation in the Niger Delta, local communities have known no rest�, said Godwin Ojo, of Friends of the Earth Nigeria. �Shell has systematically violated human rights and destroyed the environment as well as the livelihoods of communities but neither international campaigns nor national laws and regulation agencies have been able to end those practices. This level of impunity demonstrate the need for a binding international instrument that forces TNCs to respect human rights.�

�In 26 years of oil exploitation in the Ecuadorian amazon, Chevron has polluted more than 450�000 hectares of one of the planet's richest biodiversity regions, destroying the living and subsistence of its inhabitants� explained Pablo Fajardo, defensor and representative of the victims of Chevron in Ecuador. �And after 21 years of litigation and in spite of a sentence of the Ecuadorian justice, Chevron still refuses to pay. And in the meanwhile, the victims of its activities in Ecuador are still waiting for justice and compensation�, he added. �Voluntary codes of conduct have clearly shown their limits, only a binding international instrument can end the impunity of TNCs.�

�Dozens of union leaders are murdered each year in Colombia with complete impunity� said Javier Correa, president of the union Sinaltrainal in Colombia. �In the case of Sinaltrainal, 23 of our affiliates working for Coca Cola or Nestl� have been murdered in the past years. And those TNCs use complex schemes of subsidiaries, subcontractors and franchises to escape justice. The Colombian justice is not doing its job and courts in the US and Switzerland, where those two TNCs have their headquarters, refuse to hear the cases�, he added. �Only binding international norms will enable us to hold TNCs accountable for their crimes in Colombia�.

The journey will still be long but today, and after nearly 40 years of discussions and failed attempts at the United Nations, the process is finally launched! The CETIM would like to congratulate the governments of Ecuador and South Africa for their leadership, as well as all other states that voted in favor of that resolution in spite of the numerous pressures received.

Victory for the rights of peasants at the UN: the Human Rights Council renews the mandate of the intergovernmental working group in charge of developing a UN Declaration on the rights of peasants!

3 July 2014

The Human Rights Council has adopted a resolution allowing the continuation of the process toward the adoption of a UN Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas (pastoralists, agricultural workers, nomadic people, fishermen, indigenous people, landless people�). Bolivia is in charge of starting informal consultations with states and civil society and to organize a second session of the intergovernmental working group in November 2014. The adoption of such a Declaration can potentially contribute to better protect the rights and improve the livelihoods of millions of peasants and other people working in rural areas.

As a reminder, this project of Declaration originated from the international peasant movement La Via Campesina, comprised of more than 164 peasant organizations across 73 countries, and that has been working on this issue for more than 10 years. With the support of the Centre Europe-Third World (CETIM) and FIAN International, La Via Campesina has presented this proposal to the Human Rights Council in 2009. In 2012, a study by the Human Rights Council Consultative Committee (a body of experts) recognized peasants and other people living in rural areas as victims of discrimination and systematic violations of their human rights and recommended the adoption of such a Declaration in order to better protect and promote their rights. In September 2012, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution tabled by Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, and South Africa that established an intergovernmental working group to develop and adopt a Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas. This working group held its first session in July 2013 and completed a first reading of the draft Declaration.

During its 26th session, the Human Rights Council was to examine the report of the first session of the working group and to decide on the renewal of its mandate so that discussions could continue based on a revised draft Declaration. Members states of the Human Rights Council responded positively to the demands of peasants organizations and accepted to renew the mandate of the intergovernmental working group by an overwhelming majority. The resolution tabled by Bolivia was adopted by 29 votes in favor, 13 abstentions, and 5 votes against.

Uniterre, the CETIM, and l�Autre syndicat are extremely pleased with this result as it demonstrates an increasing support for the process (in 2012, the result was 23 in favor, 16 abstentions, and 9 against). We can only regret the uncompromising and nonconstructive attitude of the United States, Great Britain, South Korea, the Czech Republic and Romania, that have voted against the resolution again. However, it is important to note that countries like France, Austria, Germany, Italy and Ireland have decided to abstain although they were previously opposed to the resolution. It is not only the result of an intense advocacy workby peasants organizations of the European Coordination Via Campesina and other civil society organizations but it is also an encouraging sign that now governments look at peasant agriculture with a more positive attitude. During the session, delegations of La Via Campesina have also come to pursue the advocacy work.

We would like to congratulate Switzerland in particular which, without having the right to vote at the Human Rights Council this year, has cosponsored the resolution tabled by Bolivia and has engaged in all the discussions in a very constructive manner! It reflects the good advocacy work done by the civil society and the constructive dialogue engaged with the government.

In the coming months, Via Campesina and its allies will double their efforts to try and convince states that are still reticent to the idea of such a Declaration. A UN Declaration is essential for protecting at the international level the whole peasant agriculture that is responsible for the production of more than 70% of food while having access to barely 25% of the land. By strengthening the rights of those playing a decisive role in the global production of food, this Declaration will reinforce food sovereignty and security for the entire population. There is no gap between the Global North and South, La Via Campesina is a proof of it.

On behalf of La Via Campesina, we would like to thank Bolivia, South Africa, Cuba, and Ecuador for the efforts they have produced to facilitate a constructive work and process on this issue at the Human Rights Council.

Press contacts:

Valentina Hemmeler Ma�ga, Uniterre, 079 672 14 07

Melik �zden, CETIM, contact@cetim.ch, 022 731 59 63

Transnational corporations and human rights: time has come for the Human Rights Council to adopt binding norms !

24 June 2014

The Human Rights Council is currently reviewing a draft resolution presented by Ecuador and South Africa proposing new binding international norms for transnational corporations and human rights. This initiative, supported by 85 countries in an oral statement to the Human Rights Council in September 2013, has the potential to contribute to ending the impunity from which transnational corporations often benefit regarding human rights violations and to guarantee access to justice for the victims of their activities.

Hundreds of organizations and social movements from throughout the entire world have committed themselves to supporting this initiative. They are mobilizing in Geneva from 23 to 27 June in order to put pressure on the Human Rights Council member states and to sensitize international public opinion. A major public conference is planned for this evening (Tuesday, 24 June) at 8:00 p.m. at the Maison des Associations. A gathering will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, 25 June, starting at 4:00 p.m. at the Place des Nations, and starting at 6:00 p.m., a march will begin to carry out a guided visit to the �Geneva of transnationals�. Many representatives of the victims in the countries of the Global South have made the trip.

The CETIM is firmly committed to this mobilization together with the Global campaign to dismantle corporate power, which groups hundreds of organizations struggling against impunity. Five cases (written statements) have been jointly presented to the Human Rights Council: they feature Chevron in Ecuador, Coca Cola in Colombia, Shell in Nigeria, Glencore-Xstrata in the Philippines, and Oceana Gold in El Salvador. A joint oral statement was also presented (see also here).

These cases illustrate the impunity that transnational corporations continue to enjoy regarding the human rights violations they commit, especially in the countries of the Global South. They also focus attention on the obstacles that the victims must overcome in the quest for justice and remedy and demonstrate the necessity of adopting new binding international norms.

The CETIM has been following the discussion on this subject at the United Nations for some thirty years. It has been witness of the growing economic and political power of transnational corporations and of the failure of all attempts to seriously control their activities and their impacts on human rights.

Transnational corporations today enjoy a battery of normative instruments endowed with powerful enforcement mechanisms to protect their rights and interests (free trade and investment treaties, to name only two), and they can take governments to court even beyond national jurisdictions. But parallel to these structures, there is at the international level only non-binding voluntary codes of conduct and guiding principles, devoid of sanction mechanisms, to control their impacts on human rights and to assure access to justice for the victims of their activities. The countries and peoples of the Global South are the main victims of this asymmetry. That is why the CETIM has been fighting for so many years at the United Nations to obtain binding norms.

�It is time for the Human Rights Council to correct this asymmetry in international law. What it has done up to now is largely insufficient. It is an illusion to believe that one can control the activities of the most powerful actors of the world's economy through voluntary and non-binding norms. The recent economic and financial crisis has demonstrated thoroughly the consequences of blind faith in the self-regulation of the market. The time has come to draft and adopt binding international norms for transnational corporations and human rights!� stated Melik �zden, director of the CETIM. �The problem has been clearly identified, and the solution are known. It is now a matter of political will.�

In this context, the CETIM welcomes the initiative launched at the Human Rights Council by the governments of Ecuador and South Africa. Informal consultations have been held during the first two weeks of the Council. A draft resolution was officially submitted on 19 June. Given the opposition of the Western countries, a vote will probably be called at the Human Rights Council on Thursday, 26, or Friday, 27 June. The CETIM regrets the opposition of the Western countries and in particular that of the European Union and the United States, which, throughout the informal consultations, have demonstrated an unhelpful attitude and have announced their intention to vote as a block against the resolution, placing the interests of their transnational corporations before the protection of human rights, in particular when the violations are committed in the countries of the Global South.

�The transnational corporations that have their headquarters in our countries must be liable to be held accountable for their acts and their crimes in other countries. It is a matter of the credibility of the international human rights system,� continued M. �zden. We call upon all the member countries of the Human Rights Council to support Ecuador's and South Africa's initiative in favor on binding international norms for transnational corporations and human rights. In particular, we call upon the Western countries to commit themselves firmly to human rights by supporting this initiative, or at least by not opposing it.

Interviews with the representatives of the victims of transnational corporations in the countries of the Global South, present in Geneva this week, can be arranged.

Bolivia�s president sequestered in Europe
Letter of support to the anti-imperialist Summit in Bolivia

30 July 2013

The Europe-Third World Centre (CETIM) wishes to express its solidarity with the Bolivian people and with their President, Evo Morales, following his sequestration in Europe on 2 July 2013.
The presidential plane of the Pluri-national State of Bolivia was forbidden flight over French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese territories and was then detained at Vienna airport in Austria for fourteen hours. These western governments were, of course, following orders from Washington which suspected the presence in the plane of one of the most wanted men of the United States of America, Edward Snowden.
Evo Morales and his group were thus literally sequestered and subjected to blackmail unthinkable in the 21st century, given that Spanish Ambassador in Austria ordered an inspection of the presidential plane as a condition for its departure.
Since then, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris and Rome have apologised to La Paz but it is none the less of great concern that these actions violate international law, which, once more, is trampled underfoot by countries which claim to be democratic and sovereign. Let us remember that certain of these countries did not have the same reflex when clandestine planes of the CIA were transferring �suspects� towards �black spots� where they were tortured (17 European Union states according to the Open Society Justice initiative) not to mention, when transfers were made towards secret prisons in Europe.

CETIM is delighted, however, with the wave of solidarity expressed all over the world, as well as the solidarity shown by the ALBA countries (Bolivarian Alternative for the American peoples) and other Latin American countries, towards the Bolivian president in defense of his sovereignty and dignity. This solidarity raises hopes in the building of an alternative society.

CETIM wishes all success to the Anti-Imperialist Summit to be held in La Paz this weekend.

Peasants' Rights on Track in spite of the Opposition of the United States and the European Union

26 July 2013

The United Nations Human Rights Council's Open Intergovernmental Working Group has begun a first reading of the draft of the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants. The CETIM welcomes the support accorded this process by the overwhelming majority of member states.

The first session of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on a United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas entrusted with drafting the declaration was held in Geneva from 15 to 19 July 2013. The CETIM, in collaboration with other organizations, in particular La V�a Campesina, has been supporting the process from the outset.

The CETIM welcomes the support by the overwhelming majority of participating states, which have emphasized the necessity and importance of adopting a declaration on the rights of peasants in opposing discrimination against this population group and for the improvement of their living and working conditions.

However, it is deplorable that the United States and most of the members of the European Union, in particular, have opposed the effort by, above all, advancing specious procedural arguments and by declaring themselves opposed to �new rights�. In this regard, these states, while making general statements, have refused to participate in the negotiations on the Declaration at the risk of failing to have included in it specific issues important to their own peasant populations.

The discussions focused in particular on the right to land, the notion of food sovereignty and intellectual property (regarding seeds, for example).

During the discussion, the CETIM suggested the inclusion of the right to social security and measures that states should undertake to implement the Declaration.

It is worth recalling that this declaration will constitute an effective tool in the struggle against hunger and inequality.

At the close of its deliberations, the Working Group decided to hold its second session in 2014 and to entrust to its chair and rapporteur, Ang�lica C. Navarro Llanos (Bolivia), the preparation of a new text in the light of the week's discussions.

Forum on Business and Human Rights
What's behind the Big Show at the UN?

3 December 2012

Everywhere and nowhere (legally speaking), TNCs use complex and very often artificial structures to evade being held accountable for human rights violations as well as to excape from legislation on workers' rights, the environment and taxation.

It is in this context that the first Forum on Business and Human Rights will be held at the Palais de Nations in Geneva (4 and 5 December 2012). Born of a Human Rights Council resolution, this Forum will gather in, besides the member states, NGOs and national human rights institutions, the representatives of TNCs such as ABB, ABB, Chevron, Shell, BP, Repsol, PepsiCo, UBS – as if all these entities were on an equal footing!

The mandate of this Forum is limited essentially to cataloguing “best practices” of TNCs and the promotion of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights drafted in 2011 by John Ruggie, former Special Representative of the Secretary-General and consultant to Barrick Gold Corporation, inter alia. Moreover, he will be chairing the Forum! The great drawback is that this Forum is not authorized to accept complaints concering human rights violations committed by TNCs.

For decades, the CETIM has been carrying on research on this subject and on the limits of codes of good conduct. It is of the firm opinion that only if member states adopt legally binding norms to regulate the activities of TNCs that violate human rights can those corporations' power be thwarted (see below). It is to be regretted that the U.N. seems to have given up on the adoption of these norms. The subject may be at an impasse, but it should not be abandoned. It is time to put politics above the economy.

For these reasons, the CETIM will not take part in and will not support this mega-show.

Toward the adoption by the United Nations of an international declaration on the right of peasants and other persons living in rural areas !

September 2012

It is with immense satisfaction that the small-scale farmers union Uniterre, representing in Switzerland the international peasants movement La Vía Compesina, and its partners in this undertaking, the Europe – Third World Centre (CETIM) and FIAN Switzerland, announce that the Human Rights Council has deemed it necessary to better protect the rights of small-scale farmers throughout the world. Switzerland abstained from voting.

After many long years of work, civil society, supporting the initiative of the union of peasant families, La Via Compesina, has succeeded in convincing the majority of member states of the Human Rights Council, of the absolute necessity of a new international legal instrument that will take the form of a United Nations declaration. It will have as its objective bringing together in a single document the specific rights of peasants, including new rights such as the right to land, to seeds, to means of production and to information relating to agriculture.

The Human Rights Council – taking into account that 80% of those suffering from hunger live in rural areas and that 50% of them belong to the peasantry – has come to the conclusion that they deserve particular attention. By committing itself to protecting their basic and specific rights, it intends to contribute to reducing hunger in the world.

The Human Rights Council has thus decided to set up an intergovernmental working group mandated to draft a declaration on the rights of peasants and other persons living in rural areas. The working group will build on the project presented by the Advisory Committee in March 2012. The first working group meetings will take place starting in 2013, and they will be carried out over a period of several years before the final text is adopted by the Human Rights Council then by the United Nations General Assembly. Civil society and representatives of peasant families are called upon to participate actively in this process, an additional highly positive point.

Uniterre, CETIM and FIAN Switzerland profoundly regret the abstention of Switzerland on an issue of such importance, which ought to have had the full support of a country that has made human rights a basic element of its foreign policy.

Uniterre, the CETIM and FIAN Switzerland deplore, further, the negative vote of a certain number of European Union states as well as the United States, which opposed specific protection for peasant farmers. These states, probably subjected to pressure from certain powerful lobbies (major economic groups, speculators, agribusiness and extractive corporations) did not dare support their small farmers, ignoring elementary rights and the general interest of their citizens faced with these stakeholders that continue to violate the rights of small-scale farmers throughout the world.

Ahmed Ben Bella vient, � l'�ge de 96 ans, de nous quitter. Leader historique du Front de lib�ration nationale et premier Pr�sident de l'Alg�rie ind�pendante, Ahmed Ben Bella a pass� toute sa vie � lutter pour la lib�ration et le d�veloppement des pays africains, tout comme de l'ensemble des pays du Sud.

Il �tait un �minent membre fondateur du mouvement des Non-align�s, issu de la conf�rence de Bandung (18-24 avril 1955). Cette conf�rence s'est tenue quelques mois apr�s le commencement de la guerre de lib�ration alg�rienne le 1er novembre 1954.
Ahmed Ben Bella a pass� plus de 24 ans en prison au total, d'abord dans les ge�les fran�aises, puis en Alg�rie, apr�s le coup d'Etat de Boumedienne, perp�tr� en 1965. Lib�r� en 1981, il est devenu une personnalit� connue dans le monde entier. Apr�s l'�lection de Bouteflika en 1999, Ahmed Ben Bella a �t� r�habilit� dans son pays. C'est ainsi qu'en 2007, il a �t� nomm� par l'Union africaine Pr�sident du groupe des Sages pour r�soudre les diff�rents conflits de ce continent.

Ahmed Ben Bella �tait �galement un membre fid�le du Centre Europe - Tiers Monde (CETIM) depuis de longues ann�es. Pendant son s�jour en Suisse, il �tait un soutien de poids � notre organisation.

Nous pr�sentons nos condol�ances � sa famille, au peuple alg�rien et aux peuples de tous les "Suds".

Cruz Melchor Eya Nchama
Pr�sident du CETIM