A/HRC/30/44
(k) States should monitor respect for the Guidelines on Business and Human
Rights by all transnational enterprises operating in their territory and make them legally
binding in the domestic legal order;
(l) States should partner with civil society actors to counteract the negative
impact of free trade agreements on the enjoyment of human rights and provide for an
enabling environment for civil society actors;
(m) States must deny effect to investor–State dispute settlement and ICSID
awards that violate human rights, practice solidarity with States seeking to modify or
terminate bilateral investment treaties, free trade agreements or investor–State dispute
settlement agreements or that deny effect to arbitral awards, and take measures vis-à-vis
investors and transnational corporations violating international human rights law;
(n) States victims of contra bonos mores investor–State dispute settlement
arbitrations should organize a concerted response, jointly refuse implementation and
convene an assembly of States parties to modify or terminate investor–State dispute
settlement agreements with immediate effect and to revise or terminate application of the
Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards when the
awards entail human rights violations;
(o) States should include in bilateral investment treaties and free trade
agreements specific provisions on the legal responsibility of transnational corporations and
investors to make reparation for environmental, health and other damage caused by their
activities, and strengthen domestic criminal law provisions so as to address personal
criminal liability of investors and corporation executives for environmental harm or gross
human rights violations. To this end, States should establish a monitoring mechanism to
assess investor compliance with human rights;
(p) States should invoke Article 96 of the Charter of the United Nations and
request the General Assembly to refer pertinent legal questions to the International Court of
Justice for advisory opinions.
63.
To parliaments:
(a) Bearing in mind that in representative democracies parliaments are the
trustees of the will of the people, parliamentarians must consult with their constituents,
proactively inform and seek the opinion of all sectors of the population, particularly those
likely to be affected by international investment agreements. Fast-tracking treaties is
incompatible with the democratic process and results in illegitimate treaties;
(b) Parliaments must ensure that international investment agreements contain
general provisions on their periodic review and amendment, as well as provisions for
termination, withdrawal or suspension without unreasonable “survival clauses”;
(c) Parliaments must ensure that bilateral investment treaties and free trade
agreements advance food security, education, health, sanitation social and economic
policies and decide on domestic budgetary and fiscal matters;
(d) Parliamentarians should resist the siren call of lobbies for transnational
enterprises that make over-optimistic projections of growth and development.
Parliamentarians must demand independent economic studies and independent human
rights impact assessments;
(e) Parliamentarians should resist attempts to privatize essential governmental
services, including the provision of safe water and sanitation;
(f) Regional parliaments and parliamentary assemblies should address the
dangers to human rights of bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements, including
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