"ESCR-Net Collective Submission on the Second Revised Draft Legally Binding Instrument on Corporate Accountability", October 2020.

This submission is written on behalf of ESCR-Net - International Network for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, a network that connects over 280 NGOs, social movements and advocates across more than 75 countries to build a global movement in pursuit of human rights and social justice a reality for all...

Over the last two months, members of ESCR-Net’s Corporate Accountability Working Group (CAWG)3 engaged in a process of collective critique and analysis of the second revised draft...

Corporations are abusing our rights and harming our environment – in situations of crisis, they see an opportunity for profit-making. This status quo is driving us to pressure our States, now more than ever, to rebuild a system that will allow us to hold corporations accountable. Voluntary guidelines for corporations have proven insufficient...

This submission will reflect in large part what must be further strengthened in the second draft LBI...

Some of the key issues foregrounded in our collective submission include the following:

• Ensuring that feminist visions, particularly of grassroots women leaders, are at the center of the LBI;
  
• Centering the lived realities and demands of impacted communities & social movements within them;
  
• Addressing gaps in obligations towards corporate accountability throughout the text of the LBI...