EU: Parliament calls for ambitious negotiating mandate for the draft UN treaty on business and human rights

On 18 January, MEPs approved by a large majority a resolution calling on the European Union to adopt a negotiating mandate, within the framework of the annual UN sessions, to establish a legally binding instrument to regulate business activities with regard to human rights. While NGOs regularly deplore the EU’s discretion within the intergovernmental working group, a mandate is, in the words of the text, “the only meaningful and tangible way” of giving concrete expression to its commitment. The