Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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39. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when he will develop a position on the UN treaty in the context of the publication of a revised legally binding instrument to regulate in international law the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises, that is, the UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights; and if Ireland will attend and engage constructively in the fifth session to negotiate the Treaty in order to stop corporate human rights violations. [36082/19]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The question of a legally binding treaty to regulate the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises has been under consideration by the Inter-Governmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises.  The group was established on foot of a Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council in 2014, led by a number of developing countries, including Ecuador and South Africa. Four sessions of the Group have taken place to date.   In advance of the fourth and most recent session in October 2018, Ecuador circulated a draft of a legally binding instrument. The group also held an informal consultation relating to the proposed instrument in Geneva in June this year, which Ireland attended. The next session of the group will take place in October 2019 and Ireland will continue to work with our EU partners to look at how we might actively and constructively engage in the negotiation process, notwithstanding our serious concerns about the way in which the work of the group has been conducted to date.  

I am aware that a revised draft of the legally binding instrument has been circulated in advance of the next session of the group. Officials in my Department are in the process of reviewing the draft to assess whether Ireland’s wide-ranging concerns in respect of the earlier document have been addressed.

While we are open to looking at options for progress on a legally binding treaty, we believe that all economic operators, whether transnational or purely domestic,  should be treated in a non-discriminatory manner. We would also wish to see essential human rights principles reflected in any possible instrument, which should reaffirm the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of human rights and stress the primary responsibility of States under existing human rights obligations to protect against human rights violations.

Ultimately, if it is to achieve its objectives, any legally binding instrument should enjoy broad support among UN Member States to ensure its effectiveness as well as international coherence in the framework of business and human rights.  On this point, I would note that of the 22 countries which to date have adopted National Plans on Business and Human Rights, 16, including Ireland, are EU Member States.   We would like to see any new initiative build on, rather than duplicate, existing measures such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy. Above all we believe that it should be rooted in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.  In this regard, we are of the view that the UN Working Party on Business and Human Rights and the annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights provide appropriate fora for consideration of any new initiatives.