JOINT STATEMENT on the presentation of the report of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with Respect to Human Rights

A joint statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council on 9 March 2018 by a coalition of NGOs, including the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Center for International Environmental Law. The statement advocates for a legally binding international instrument to regulate transnational corporations, emphasizing the need to integrate a feminist perspective to address the specific human rights abuses women face from corporate activities.

• Corporate human rights abuses disproportionately affect women, who face specific harms including sexual and gender-based violence in the workplace, precarious working conditions, low wages, and unpaid care work. Women are also heavily impacted by environmental degradation, community displacements, and the militarization of corporate operations, such as mining sites.
• Business activities can exacerbate existing gender discrimination. Women and girls specifically face gender-based violence linked to extractive industries and suffer socio-economic and environmental impacts, such as the loss of livelihoods and land access. Women human rights defenders targeting corporate accountability are subject to gender-specific threats, including sexual violence and smear campaigns based on misogynist stereotypes.
• The coalition calls for all Human Rights Council members and observer States to support a legally binding instrument to regulate transnational corporations under international human rights law. They argue that existing frameworks, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, are "gender-blind" and that women's experiences are often an afterthought in international law.
• To effectively address corporate abuse, the proposed treaty should incorporate three specific starting points: the obligation to perform gendered impact assessments of business operations, the establishment of gender-sensitive justice and remedy mechanisms, and the protection of women human rights defenders.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2018). JOINT STATEMENT on the presentation of the report of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with Respect to Human Rights. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Final-statement-WILPF-HRC37-Item-3-General-Debate-.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. JOINT STATEMENT on the presentation of the report of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with Respect to Human Rights. 2018. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Final-statement-WILPF-HRC37-Item-3-General-Debate-.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=JOINT STATEMENT on the presentation of the report of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with Respect to Human Rights |date=9 March 2018 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Final-statement-WILPF-HRC37-Item-3-General-Debate-.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2018joint, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{JOINT STATEMENT on the presentation of the report of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with Respect to Human Rights}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2018}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Final-statement-WILPF-HRC37-Item-3-General-Debate-.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }