Resolution: Supporting the Development of an International Treaty to Ensure Accountability for Human Rights Violations by Corporations

Countries: 
Global

The International Board of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom recently met to adopt a resolution in support of an international treaty intended to hold corporations accountable for human rights abuses. The resolution recognizes the intersection of corporate activities and militarisation, as well as the detrimental impact of extractive industries and corporate development projects that perpetuate and deepen the North-South divide.  Read the entire resolution with full statements of purpose below, or read the resolution in its original form here

 

The International Board of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, meeting June 2016,

Denouncing the militarisation imposed by large corporations, which sometimes use private military and security forces or even state armed forces to undertake their activities against the will taken by the local communities;

Rejecting macro development projects imposed by corporations from richer countries on local communities of impoverished countries, reflecting the unfairness of the current economic system and its North-South divide;

Standing in solidarity with the women human rights defenders who risk their lives to oppose imposed macro development projects within their communities, in recognition of women’s—and in particular indigenous women’s—struggles in defending our Earth and our rights as human beings;

Joining Berta Cáceres’ family and the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations in Honduras (COPINH) in their demand for an impartial investigation and urging all international actors to declare a definitive ban of any financial contributions to Agua Zarca dam project;

Recognising that in the so-called global North, the poorest communities are also affected by the actions of large corporations such as offshoring, pollution, or abusive financial policies;

Denouncing the secret negotiation and conclusion of multilateral trade agreements such as Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which put the interest of corporations before the interest of human beings, and highlighting that WILPF members in the USA and in Europe have publicly rejected these negotiations;

Urges negotiating governments to immediately end negotiations on TTIP, TTPA, TISA, and CETA; and

Welcomes the initiative to elaborate an international treaty to ensure accountability for human rights violations by corporations and encourages civil society groups, including WILPF’s Secretariat and Sections, to continue engagement as part of the Treaty Alliance and to ensure the participation of affected women and members in the initiative for an international treaty.