A/HRC/33/40 information to evaluate the impact of trade agreements on society. They should not have to rely on whistle-blowers. Secrecy has a corrosive effect on democracy and the rule of law. 25. Article 21 concerns the right of peaceful assembly. Demonstrators against megaprojects have been harassed, detained and some of them killed.33 26. Article 24 concerns children’s rights. Compensation paid to transnational corporations pursuant to investor-State dispute settlement awards reduces public funds to advance the rights of the child, reduce infant mortality and provide better education. 27. Article 25 concerns the right to participate in the conduct of public affairs, which has been systematically violated when elaborating and negotiating bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements in secret, and when adopting them without parliamentary oversight. In view of the dangers posed by investor-State dispute settlement and the investment court system to the rule of law and human rights, such agreements must be subject to referendums. Parliaments must not fast-track ratification of treaties that have been negotiated without multi-stakeholder participation or have met massive public opposition when provisions of the treaties have become public. More than 3.3 million Europeans signed a petition against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and a public consultation by the European Commission resulted in rejection by 97 per cent of respondents.34 28. Article 26 concerns equality before the law. The right to equality before the law and the prohibition of discrimination are violated when special rights are granted to foreign investors, excluding domestic investors and corporations. 29. Article 27 concerns minority rights. While indigenous peoples are protected under article 1 of the Covenant, minorities also demand protection of their culture and livelihood, which are frequently violated by transnationals through destruction of their environment, hunting, fishing and their access to clean water. B. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 30. Investor-State dispute settlement and the investment court system adversely affect the enjoyment of most provisions of the Covenant, as elucidated in the Committee’s general comments. 31. Article 6 concerns the right to work. Mega-agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement have led to the loss of millions of jobs and a race to the bottom in labour rights, such as when manufacturing jobs were relocated from the United States of America to Mexican maquiladoras, notorious for subhuman working conditions and unconscionably low wages. 32. Article 7 concerns the right to just and favourable conditions of work. In its general comment No. 23 (2016) on that right, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights stressed that it must be protected in trade agreements. 33. Article 8 concerns the right to form trade unions and to strike. Trade unionists have been targets of transnational corporations, dismissed from their jobs, and sometimes victims of violence perpetrated by private security companies and paramilitary groups. 33 34 8 A/HRC/29/25. Pia Eberhardt, “The zombie ISDS”, p. 5. Yet the European Commission failed to see the elephant in the room; why include investor-State arbitration at all? GE.16-11938