A UN working Group issues draft binding international instrument on Business and Human Rights

In June 2014, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva adopted a resolution drafted by Ecuador and South Africa to establish an open-ended intergovernmental working group to elaborate an international legally binding instrument on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with respect to human rights.  Chaired by Ecuador, the intergovernmental working group (IGWG) has met three times (July 2015, October 2016 and October 2017).   Elements for a draft  legally binding instrument were issued by the Chair in September 2017, and a Zero Draft instrument and optional protocol were presented in July 2018 (a summary of the Zero Draft is available here).  A fourth IGWG session will be held in Geneva in October 2018.