The UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association announced that his next report “Getting down to business” which will be presented to the UN General Assembly in October 2015 will “explore the disparate treatment by governments’ and the international community of businesses and civil society organisations.”...The concept note appears to promote better enabling environments for corporations, suggesting that they are bearers of the human rights of assembly and association protected by UN instruments. We are troubled by the suggestion that there might be equivalence between corporations and civil society organisations...At a time when corporations are undermining democratic practices by using their concentrated wealth to buy influence and access in political processes or drown out the voices of citizens and their organisations, it is troubling to see the UN Special Rapporteur concern himself as to whether corporations enjoy sufficiently beneficial environments in which to conduct their activities....