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Extra-Territorial Obligations before the CESCR

Extra-Territorial Obligations before the CESCR

Extra-Territorial Obligations before the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

 

United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

57th Session (22 February – 4 March 2016): Canada

Extra-territorial obligations - Summary of Issues

  1. This is a summary of the key issues identified in the Parallel report submitted by the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in relation to the extra-territorial obligations of Canada under the ICESCR in relation to:

    1. the regulation of corporate entities domiciled within its territory and operating overseas;

    2. international co-operation, including development assistance, decisions and policies on international trade and investment, State-Owned overseas investment or credit entities and Canada’s participation in international financial institutions; and

    3. decisions taken within inter-governmental organisations such as international financial institutions.

  2. The issue of extra-territorial obligations was addressed by the Committee in the List of Issues for Canada as follows:

    1. ‘Please provide information on the measures taken, including legislative, regulatory, policies and guidance, to ensure that private companies respect economic, social and cultural rights throughout their operations, including when operating abroad. In doing so, please also inform on remedies available for victims and describe grievance mechanisms in place and elaborate on their mandates.’ (para 4)

    2. ‘Please provide information to the Committee as to if and when the State party intends to increase the official development assistance, which underwent cuts in recent years. Please also provide information as to what extent the State party seeks to promote the realization of economic, social and cultural rights through its international development cooperation policy.’ (para 6)

  3. In its Reply to List of Issues[1] the Canadian government responded:

    1. ‘In November 2014, the Government of Canada’s launched an updated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy,1 which encourages Canadian companies to reflect Canadian values in operations abroad, respect human rights and align with widely- recognized international CSR guidelines.’ (para 16)

    2. ‘Voluntary remedial mechanisms that facilitate dialogue, including during the early stages of a dispute, can lead to relatively rapid, low-cost, agreed solutions. Canada maintains two voluntary, non-judicial dispute resolution mechanisms, which are benchmarked against international CSR guidelines and standards:

  • Canadian National Contact Point (NCP), established pursuant to OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, available to all sectors; and

  • Office of the Extractive Sector CSR Counsellor, available to the mining, oil and gas sector.’ (para 17)

  1. ‘The updated CSR Strategy links company engagement in these dialogue facilitation processes with access to Government of Canada trade advocacy support, which are made public. These mechanisms complement remedies available to communities through local dispute processes, national human rights institutions, and formal legal processes.’ (para 18)

  2. ‘The Official Development Assistance Accountability Act ensures that all Canadian ODA is focused on poverty reduction, takes into account the perspectives of the poor, and is consistent with international human rights standards.’ (para 20)

  3. ‘Through its ODA on maternal, newborn and child health, Canada promotes reproductive rights and universal access to sexual and reproductive health services.’ (para 21)

Canadian business entities operating overseas

  1. Our report provides examples of Canadian domiciled companies that have allegedly been involved in serious violations of the ICESCR in their operations abroad. The lack of appropriate regulation or oversight of these companies by Canada, has meant that there is no accountability for these human rights abuses.

  2. The efforts of the Canadian government in ‘encouraging’ Canadian companies ‘to reflect Canadian values in operations abroad, respect human rights and align with widely - recognised international CSR guidelines’, have not been effective in ensuring that Canadian companies operating abroad do not impair the enjoyment of Covenant rights, nor that victims can access effective remedies in cases of abuse.

  3. Voluntary CSR initiatives can be useful but are not sufficient in protecting against abuses nor in realising the right of victims to an effective remedy for violations of the ICESCR.

  4. Canada needs to do more, particularly in relation to access to remedies for foreign victims, where the Canadian Courts have consistently applied the forum non conveniens doctrine to decline jurisdiction in cases involving foreign victims. In cases of a weak ‘host State’ which lacks the rule of law and an effective, corruption-free judicial system, Canada has an obligation under the ICESCR to ensure access to the Canadian Courts and Canadian non-judicial mechanisms, for foreign victims of human rights abuses involving Canadian corporations (not only in the extractives sector).

  5. Therefore we urge the Committee to affirm Canada’s extra-territorial obligations to respect and to protect Covenant rights abroad, and call upon Canada to take measures, including legislative measures, to ensure that business entities domiciled in Canada but operating abroad (including via subsidiary entities), do not impair the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights and to ensure that accountability mechanisms and remedies are available to victims of violations, including through Canadian judicial and non-judicial mechanisms.

International co-operation and inter-governmental organisations

  1. Our report also provides examples of serious ICESCR violations associated with development projects funded and/or supervised by the Canadian International Development Agency or the World Bank, at a time when Canada was a member State. There has been no accountability or effective remedies for victims, in respect of these violations.

  2. These violations may have been prevented had Canada had in place, as is required by the Covenant, legislation and policies that require CIDA and Canadian officials representing Canada in international organisations and development/financing entities, to respect economic, social and cultural rights abroad and requirements for human rights impact assessment processes and effective monitoring and accountability mechanisms in respect of relevant projects or funding decisions.

  3. Canadian international cooperation, trade and investment, including within inter-governmental organisations, should be driven by the extra-territorial obligation to fulfill Covenant rights, including by ensuring that human rights impact assessments involve assessing not only prevention of rights violations but also how best international cooperation can further the progressive realization of Covenant rights.

Conclusion

  1. In summary, we urge the Committee to make recommendations highlighting Canada’s extra-territorial obligations to respect, protect and fulfil ICESCR rights in relation to:

    1. business entities domiciled in Canada, operating outside its territory; and

    2. its policies on international co-operation, development assistance, international trade and investment, State-Owned overseas investment or credit entities and international financial institutions.

In respect of each of these areas Canada should require:

  1. respect for ICESCR rights including in operations or projects abroad;

  2. systematic and independent human rights impact assessments that assess both prevention and fulfillment of Covenant rights prior to making funding decisions or commencing projects;

  3. effective monitoring mechanisms to assess the human rights impact of policies and projects; and

  4. accessible and effective accountability mechanisms and remedies for victims of violations, including through Canadian judicial and non-judicial mechanisms.

[1] Canada’s Reply to List of Issues, E/C.12/CAN/Q/6/Add.1

 

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.