"Shaping the treaty on business and human rights: views from Asia and the Pacific", 11 May 2015

…Given the impunity with which corporations in Asia and the Pacific operate, the adoption by the UN Human Rights Council of a Resolution last year to elaborate a binding instrument “to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises” provides a critical opportunity to advance corporate accountability. From 1-3 May, civil society gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to discuss how to ensure that the process of developing a treaty responds to the needs of communities that experience human rights violations caused by businesses...[P]articipants…discussed the nature of human rights violations they have experienced as a result of corporate activity, the challenges they face in seeking a remedy, as well as the remedies and mechanisms that would be necessary to protect and fulfil their human rights. The legal group considered how these might shape proposals for State and corporate obligations under the treaty…