Nothing multilateral about it! Campaign groups slam the last-minute postponement of Binding Treaty negotiations
On September 20th, in a surprise move, the Permanent Mission of Ecuador to the UN in Geneva announced that the tenth round of negotiations of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with respect to Human Rights (OEIGWG) will be postponed to December 2024. The Permanent Mission of Ecuador to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva, holds the chairpersonship of this working group.
The Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples’ Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power, and Stop Impunity—a broad coalition of social movements and civil society organizations that includes La Via Campesina— has signed onto a scathing letter addressed to the Mission of Ecuador, condemning this unilateral move.
The letter states that this sudden rescheduling, without prior notice, will prevent many movements, communities, Indigenous Peoples, and civil society organizations—those most affected by the issues under debate—from participating in the next session, as they have always done. The letter also notes that the dates for the OEIGWG sessions and all UNHRC sessions are set well in advance for important reasons. In the past decade, only the COVID-19 pandemic, a global event, has prompted changes to the carefully planned UNHRC schedule.
Beyond the material and financial consequences of this decision, the reliability of the schedule allows civil society to plan their participation accordingly.
The short notice of this rescheduling, just a month before the original session, means that many campaign organizations have already purchased tickets and booked hotels, often with non-refundable rates. Movements and CSOs must plan their trips far in advance to ensure more voices can be present for the negotiations, given their very limited resources. A rough estimate of the financial loss this unilateral decision could cause amounts to over €150,000.
Furthermore, several Global South delegates have indicated they will be unable to attend the new proposed dates in late December. Travel and accommodation costs are expected to rise during the festive season, which could exclude even more participants from this crucial process. Holding the session when many from the Global South, including state delegates and civil society members, cannot attend is seen as disrespectful to their commitment and to the democratic principles that should guide the OEIGWG.
While the UN’s “Pact for the Future” was just adopted in New York, emphasizing revitalized multilateralism, the Mission of Ecuador has taken a unilateral step.
The campaign groups have urged the Mission of Ecuador to explore alternatives that would allow the 10th session to proceed as originally scheduled, between October 21 and 25, 2024, a timeframe that was agreed upon and reconfirmed just a few weeks ago.
Read the full letter and the proposals