A/HRC/31/50 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 5 February 2016 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-first session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report on the first session of the open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, with the mandate of elaborating an international legally binding instrument*, ** Chair-Rapporteur: María Fernanda Espinosa Summary The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 26/9, decided to establish an openended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, and mandated the working group to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises. In the resolution, the Council affirmed the importance of providing the working group with independent expertise and expert advice in order for it to fulfil its mandate. In accordance with the resolution, the Chair-Rapporteur of the working group presents to the Council the present report in follow-up to the first session of the working group, held from 6 to 10 July 2015 and dedicated to conducting constructive deliberations on the content, scope, nature and form of the future international instrument. The report includes a reflection of the inputs provided by States parties and other stakeholders and the progress of the working group. * ** The present report was submitted after the administrative deadline as a result of consultations by the Chair-Rapporteur with Member States and other stakeholders, and in the light of revisions made in order to more accurately reflect their inputs. The annexes to the present report are reproduced as received, in the language of submission only. GE.16-01535(E) *1601535*