Some remarks on the third sessions of the business and human rights treaty process and the 'Zero Draft'

The process of creating an international legally binding instrument to regulate, under international law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, is slowly moving forward. Important and complex issues were addressed during the third session of the Intergovernmental Working Group, which was once more a forum of ideological and political confrontation. Nevertheless, the contours of a potential treaty are starting to become clearer, as a relative consensus on the measures that the instrument should include starts to crystallize. Substantial and procedural elements addressed during the third session have provided a large basis for discussion and analysis, while political and legal considerations are starting to appear more intensely as the process approaches the negotiation stage. In that regard, the 'zero draft' of the binding instrument provides States and other stakeholders with a starting point to negotiate one of the potential developments in the business and human rights field.