Radio Mundo Real

The French Senate will discuss for the second time on October 13 a bill on human rights violations perpetrated by national companies in their operations abroad. The bill, while not the only one of this kind in Europe, is an innovative one and despite being “weakened” since it was presented in Parliament in 2013, it could become a landmark at international level.

The bill was already adopted twice by the National Assembly and was rejected once by the Senate. A new rejection is expected, but social organizations are working hard to increase the possibilities for its adoption in the near future.

Real World Radio interviewed French activist Juliette Renaud, Corporate Accountability Campaigner of FOEI, to know more about the bill, its origins, the next steps if it is rejected by Senate again and the work by French organizations around the issue.

According to Juliette, this initiative is part of the work to be carried out by Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) from October 24-29 in Geneva, Switzerland, on the occasion of the second session of the Intergovernmental Working Group of the UN´s Human Rights Council that will deal with the creation of a binding treaty on corporations and human rights. In parallel to the official talks, social movements and organizations member of the Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity, of which FoEI is part, will conduct in Geneva a week of mobilization in favor of this treaty.