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International Agreements

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 July 2020

Tuesday, 14 July 2020

Questions (473)

Catherine Connolly

Question:

473. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the legal analysis on the revised international legally binding instrument to regulate in international human rights law the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises that has been conducted by a group of EU countries including Ireland; when this analysis will be publicly available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15238/20]

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Written answers

Ireland has exchanged views with a number of other interested EU Member States on the draft legally binding instrument circulated last year by the chair of the inter-governmental working group. Ireland has not undertaken a formal legal analysis in respect of the draft instrument with other EU Member States and the exchange of views that we have had with other MS is intended to inform policy deliberations on the EU's approach to the issue.

As with all exchanges of views with other EU Member States on policy issues, the views that other Member States have shared with us in this context have been shared confidentially. I do not therefore intend to comment publicly on policy formulation on this issue that is underway in other Member States.

As noted in replies to previous parliamentary questions, Ireland is open to looking at options for progress on a legally binding treaty. With regard to its scope, we believe that all economic operators, whether transnational or purely domestic, should be treated in a non-discriminatory manner. We would also wish to see essential human rights principles reflected in any possible instrument, which should reaffirm the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of human rights and stress the primary responsibility of States under existing human rights obligations to protect against human rights violations. We would also like to see any new initiative build on, rather than duplicate, existing measures such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy. Above all we believe that it should be rooted in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

I would also note that the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, recently announced plans by the European Commission to develop a legislative proposal by 2021, aimed at requiring businesses to carry out due diligence in relation to the potential human rights and environmental impacts of their operations and supply chains.

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