"UN Global Goals: a missed opportunity in the fight for corporate accountability", 28 Sep 2015

The European Coalition for Corporate Justice, ECCJ, a coalition of 250 civil society organisations calling for improved corporate accountability and access to justice, welcomes the SDGs’ anchorage in international human rights commitments, particularly the prioritisation of poverty eradication, reducing inequality and discrimination, and acting against environmental destruction and climate change .But given the scale of the private sector’s impact on people’s lives and the fact that most corporate abuses take place in the developing world, we believe the SDGs are a missed opportunity for the UN to show serious commitment to safeguarding human rights and to placing people ahead of business interests...“The SDGs’ emphasis on the positive aspects of business, without any reference to the possible negative impacts of enterprises, betrays an agenda which tilts in favour of corporations, not citizens,” said ECCJ Coordinator, Jerome Chaplier...ECCJ calls on all states to participate in good faith in the process of developing a UN Treaty on business and human rights that would amend the balance of power between people and companies and fix the current gaps in international regulations on corporate liability for human rights violations