"Day 4: After a lively debate, agreement on third draft of UN treaty hangs in the balance", 28 October 2020.

By the fourth day of the UN Treaty negotiations, it was clear that COVID-19 had taken a toll on states’ participation...As the stakes couldn’t be higher, states were urged to remain active through written and verbal contributions by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and several civil society organisations...

On mutual legal assistance provisions (article 12), Brazil remarked that the article places a disproportionate burden on states. Russia went next, arguing that it would be important to have the broadest possible set of grounds where recognition and enforcement of court decisions could be refused. China’s concerns about the judicial sovereignty of states were followed by two recommendations: a) the draft text should clearly distinguish between judicial assistance in civil and criminal litigation; and b) the draft text should rely on existing bilateral and multilateral treaties or agreements as the basis for judicial cooperation...

Ecuador led a group of supportive states, urging for more details on access to justice and remedy for victims. The delegate also asked participants to look to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for an example of interim measures of mutual legal assistance...

Article 14 on consistency with international law, principles and instruments sparked a heated debate among the delegates. First, Brazil asked why trade and investment agreements are even mentioned in this article. Russia tagged along by requesting the Chair to either enumerate all principles of international law or refrain from singling out any one principle, such as state obligations in trade and investment. Echoing statements made on the first day of the negotiations, China emphasised the need to balance human rights and the right to development...

Civil society organisations jumped in to recommend the inclusion of an additional protocol on complaint mechanisms and the establishment of international monitoring centre on trans-national corporations to support the committee’s work...