The ETO Consortium held its global conference from 16 until 19 June 2022 in Nuremberg, Germany.
The conference was hosted at the Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg and gathered some 70 people from around the world. See the participants list here.
The global conference was prepared by the steering committee. Besides, any other member of the ETO Consortium who was willing to participate in the preparations could do so. The program took into consideration as many suggestions as possible that were previously expressed by members within the scope of an internal survey. Accodingly, when it came to conference workshops,
1) a wide range of topics and (policy) areas related to extraterritorial obligations were tackled in 10 different thematic workshops (*). The objectives of the thematic workshops consisted of mutual learning & sharing of knowledge, and of identifying future activities and cases that can trigger diverse collaborations and synergies;
2) regional workshops were held to discuss relevant regional ETO-related processes, policies and cases. They also aimed at identifying actors (CSOs, academics, movements) that could join – or be involved in – ETO Consortium (regional) activities or processes;
3) ten concrete cases of extraterritorial human rights violations were discussed with the aim of seeking support from both academia and CSOs. Furthermore, these workshops also aimed at identifying concrete accountability and litigation avenues.
Furthermore, several plenary sessions were organized, a public debate on Liability Beyond Borders as well as some side events previously proposed by participants.
The participants of the ETO Consortium global conference also endorsed a common statement urging States to actively negotiate and promptly adopt a “Legally binding instrument on TNCs and Business Enterprises with Respect to Human Rights“.
You can read the statement here.
(*) 10 thematic workshops at the ETO Consortium global conference:
- Climate Crisis & Eco-Destruction
- Corporate Capture of Global Governance (Multistakeholder Governance)
- Trade, Investment & Intellectual Property Rights
- Migration and Asylum Policies
- Illicit Financial Flows (incl. Tax Justice, Tax Avoidance & Tax Evasion)
- Regulation of Transnational Corporations
- International Financial Institutions & Development Cooperation
- Global Pandemic
- Conflict, Occupation, War
- Financialisation
