Draft Legally Binding Instrument on Business and Human Rights – Is UN Stepping Twice into the Same River?

Discussions of preventing and addressing adverse impact of business activities on human rights have occupied international community at least for the last fifty years. This article discusses successes and failures of past attempts, a state of play of negotiating legally binding instrument and alternative approaches to the current path. It suggests that the way forward for a successful treaty on business and human rights is maintaining key objectives of the draft, namely access to remedy and justice for victims of corporate abuses, balanced with cross regional support among States. Alternative approaches may be worth exploring if they would promise of delivering this balance. In this context, a new group of friends may contribute to changing of dynamics of discussions and mindsets of key players.