Broad and diverse participation
Organizations call for more room for civil society at UN Regional Consultation in Chile
Civil society organizations have requested from the UN improvements in the format and content of the Second Regional Consultation for Latin America and the Caribbean on Business and Human Rights. The event, organized by the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights in partnership with the Regional Office for South America of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), is being held to discuss the relationship between the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In a letter sent to Dante Pesce, of the Working Group, and to Amerigo Incalcaterra, the OHCHR’s regional representative for South America, the organizations highlighted the importance of participation by civil society in all the sessions of the Consultation. Furthermore, they recommended that the issue of effective remedy be explicitly addressed in all discussions. Finally, they reaffirmed the need for space to be provided for dialogue on the outcomes and findings of the official visits of the Working Group to Brazil and Mexico.
“Civil society participation should reflect the diversity [of civil society] in the region, both in terms of sector coverage and geographical distribution,” emphasized the signatories of the letter. They also stressed that “together with international human rights law and its protection mechanisms, the UN Guiding Principles and the 2030 Agenda are two of the most important and internationally recognized frameworks for the promotion of inclusive growth with respect for human rights”.
- Click here to read the letter in full.
The document was signed by Conectas, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, Dejusticia (Center for Law, Justice and Society), Fundeps (Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies), PODER (Project on Organizing, Development, Education and Research), Plades (Labor Program for Development) and SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations).
