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The process towards a legally binding instrument on business and human rights (also known as the “UN Treaty”) has now been underway for a decade. The initiative is based on the realisation that the activities of transnationally operating companies are not sufficiently regulated under human rights law. The transnational nature of these companies, their economic power and unilaterally formulated investment protection agreements often make it difficult to hold those responsible for human rights violations accountable and to provide victims with access to justice. There is a considerable [...]

Calls for reforms of the international financial architecture are becoming ever louder. Governments, UN institutions, expert groups and civil society organizations are criticizing the fact that the network of institutions and rules that currently determine global monetary and financial policy and control global financial flows are not up to the current crises. The international financial architecture is “outdated, dysfunctional and unfair”, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

In view of these challenges, the UN Member States made the reform of the international financial [...]

From October 23 to 27, 2023, 76 states met at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council to negotiate an international human rights treaty to regulate companies and their value chains (also known as the “UN Treaty”). Since the UN Human Rights Council adopted Resolution 26/9 in 2014 and mandated an intergovernmental working group to draft such legally binding instrument, it has met nine times. After a slow start, the process has emerged surprisingly stronger from the ninth round of negotiations.

Publications

Private foundations play an increasingly important and influential role in global health; however, this role has been poorly monitored and largely unevaluated, prompting calls for greater accountability. At a minimum level, clear information should be provided about their grant-making activities. We describe the global health granting patterns of three private foundations: the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), the Wellcome Trust (WT), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), using data publicly available on their websites, for the years 2018 – 2020.

The BMGF is the largest private funder [...]

National and regional go-it-alone efforts characterized government action against the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance of the World Health Organization (WHO), as the overarching and coordinating health body, to ensure equitable and efficient distribution of vaccines and other necessary medical products to contain the pandemic was not heeded. Several governments, philanthropic foundations, and the WHO launched the global multi-stakeholder initiative (MSI) Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) at short notice, with participation of pharmaceutical industry and other MSIs, as a key global [...]

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