A/HRC/43/55 C. Documentation 5. The working group had before it the following documents: (a) Human Rights Council resolution 26/9; (b) The provisional agenda of the working group (A/HRC/WG.16/5/1); (c) Other documents, including the Chair-Rapporteur’s revised draft legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises, and a programme of work, all of which were made available to the working group on its website. 1 D. Adoption of the agenda and programme of work 6. The Chair-Rapporteur presented the draft programme of work and invited comments. As there were no comments by States, the programme of work was adopted. III. Opening statements A. General statement and introductory remarks by the Chair-Rapporteur 7. In his opening statement, the Chair-Rapporteur thanked the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States for nominating him and thanked all Member States for their support and trust. He invited everyone to participate in the widest possible manner in the deliberations and negotiation of the text for a legally binding instrument on business and human rights. He recalled the numerous bilateral discussions and multi-stakeholder consultations that had taken place during the intersessional period, and noted that the revised draft of the legally binding instrument incorporated the views, thoughts and ideas that had been expressed during those discussions and consultations, as well as in the more than 40 written submissions received and the oral interventions made at the fourth session.2 The aim of the revised draft was to protect and defend victims, to prioritize the needs of human beings and eliminate any negative misperception of the process. The Chair-Rapporteur also highlighted efforts that had been made to align the text with other relevant initiatives, particularly the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the Conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and domestic regulatory measures. In that regard, he invited all participants to jointly determine a set of rules that were clear, coherent and generally acceptable to govern the relationship between business and human rights on the basis of existing principles, frameworks and current developments. That was an unavoidable responsibility of States and business enterprises. He hoped that the revised draft would help mark the beginning of a new phase in the process with substantive negotiations aiming at filling a gap in international human rights law. B. General statements 8. Delegations congratulated the Chair-Rapporteur on his election, with many indicating their support for his leadership and his proposed programme of work for the fifth session.3 Several delegations thanked him for the work that had been put into the process since the 1 2 3 See www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/WGTransCorp/Session5/Pages/Session5.aspx. See www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/WGTransCorp/Session4/Pages/Session4.aspx. Copies of the oral statements made by States and observer organizations during the fifth session that were shared with the secretariat are available at www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/WGTransCorp/Session5/Pages/Session5.aspx. A webcast of the entire session is available at http://webtv.un.org/. 3