ACTIONAID AND AFRICAN CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS HOST DISCUSSION AT TREATY NEGOTIATIONS

16 October 2018

15 OCTOBER – GENEVA – ActionAid, together with African civil society organisations Democratic Governance and Human Rights Advocates (DEGHA), Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), as well as International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), will host a discussion at the Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises With Respect to Human Rights, on Friday, 19 October 2018.

The event, which will take place in Room XXIII, will offer an opportunity for stakeholders to consider the lived experiences of marginalised communities across Africa, who are negatively impacted by Transnational Corporations in general, and particularly those affected by the extractives sector.

Participants on the panel will reflect on the week’s negotiations, and the potential for the treaty to effectively contribute to the protection of human rights across the continent in future.

Meaningful engagement by African States in the process of negotiating a treaty on business and human rights is critical to ensure that the perspectives and interests of affected communities in Africa – who often experience the brunt of big business – are reflected in the final instrument”, said Fatima Vally of Action Aid. “This panel is intended to provide a space for African States and other stakeholders to reflect on what a treaty could offer by way of protection of the human rights of the most marginalized citizens of the continent”.

The Fourth Session of the open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group is taking place from 15 to 19 October in Geneva, where substantive negotiations on the elaboration of an international legally binding instrument to regulate the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises are underway.

The Role of a Treaty in Africa: Perspectives from the Continent

DATE: Friday, 19 October 2018 TIME: 14H00 – 15H00

VENUE: Palais des Nations, Room XXIII