It gives me great pleasure to present this newsletter to the ACCA leadership. During the past few months, the ACCA has taken positive steps to reaching the goals as defined by its members.
The work that commenced after the first ACCA SC in-person meeting in February culminated into the formation of two ACCA Working Groups centred on Access to Remedy and Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) respectively which were formed during the recent General Assembly (GA).The parallel sessions which took place during our GA provided our members of the newly formed Working Groups the opportunity to fine-tune the terms of reference that were drafted by the co-Chairpersons of the ACCA Steering Committee.
The call for applications for the hiring of an external research consultant: FPIC and access to remedy has been sent out. The purpose of the external research consultant will be to help the ACCA Working Groups take forward the research for phase 1 of the respective work streams. We look forward to receiving as many applications as possible by the closing date: 7 October 2016. The call for applications appears in this edition of our Newsletter.
The Uganda Consortium for Corporate Accountability (UCCA) played a pivotal role in organising the 3rd Annual National Conference on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which took place at the Makerere University Hall, in Uganda, from 14 to 15 September. The theme for this year’s conference was: “Business and Human Rights in Uganda: Accountability V. Social Responsibility for Corporate Abuses”. A former Steering Committee member, Flaviana Charles, was delegated by the ACCA SC to attend this Conference during and formed part of a panel discussion on NAPs on Business and Human Rights as instruments of accountability. Flaviana was on a panel with a representative from the Uganda Human Rights Commission, and a member from the Kenya Human Rights Commission. Day 1 of the Conference can be viewed here and day 2 may may be viewed here. An interview with UCCA Coordinator, Arnold Kwesiga, may be downloaded here.
ACCA members who will be attending the open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights ( 27 – 28 October) and the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights (14 November – 16 November) are requested to inform the Secretariat of their attendance. The membership is invited to actively engage with the Secretariat and ACCA Steering Committee concerning suggestions and comments on our Coalition.
We hope that you enjoy this edition of the ACCA newsletter.
Kind regards,
Damian