FGG SOMO ToC 1: Improved Corporate Conduct The first long-term goal of the Fair, Green and Global Alliance is to ensure that corporate conduct advances social justice, decent work and environmental sustainability. SOMO together with the other FGG Alliance members believe that corporations, including private banks, have a role in and responsibility for fighting poverty and injustice and promoting inclusive and sustainable development. This requires a fundamental change in corporate conduct, including changes to basic decisions about investment, buying practices and sourcing. SOMO contributes to this goal through strategies on government regulation and standards, corporate policies and practices, and supporting HRDs and ensuring effective remedy. Activities include doing research, capacity building, advocacy, organizing public events, facilitate the exchange of information, filing complaints at judicial or non-judicial complaint mechanisms, and contributing to the activities of the other FGG members. The work in this program is organized in dossiers to enable cooperation between alliance members. The specific activities of SOMO are described below. In the dossier Crosscutting corporate regulation and accountability, SOMO will continue empowering partners to actively advocate on the UN Binding Treaty process at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) in order to advance a new regulatory framework providing effective access to remedy and justice for corporate human rights violations in communities. SOMO will advocate for an encompassing scope of and an effective grievance mechanism in the UN Treaty. SOMO will furthermore work to further specify the OECD guidelines in particular sectors in the context of OECD Watch. In the dossier Sector and issue specific government interventions to regulate corporate conduct, SOMO will contribute to the work of the FGG Alliance on several topics. On the topic of land and natural resources governance, SOMO will continue to do research and capacity building on land related conflicts between companies and affected communities. Central in this work has been promoting Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in government and company policy. On the topic of Corporate conduct and labor migration, SOMO will research the human rights responsibility of corporate end users of migrant labor. The focus in case studies and legal analyses will be the recruitment practices and adherence to internationally recognized labor rights of labor intermediaries and subcontractors. SOMO will also engage in capacity building for CSOs working on migrant labor, through the dissemination of the SOMO-LSI Toolkit. On the topic of Increased cooperation on lobbying transparency and regulation, SOMO develops a proposal to increase lobby transparency and regulation. The accompanying activities will contribute to government regulation and standards in an open and democratic setting by countering corporate power. In the dossier Sector and issue specific government interventions to regulate corporate conduct, SOMO's activities will mainly focus on the following sectors: extractives and pharmaceuticals. SOMO in cooperation with her partners wants to build up evidence showing how much drug development costs are actually paid by tax money thus supporting lobby towards governments to demand that pharmaceutical companies reveal the cost structure behind the excessive high medicine prices. SOMO will additionally lobby EU-authorities to improve the monitoring of clinical trials in the Global South and develop capacities of partners to support claims of vulnerable clinical trial participants, defend their rights, and address corporate misconduct. SOMO further wants to cooperate with the University of Utrecht and Open Source Publishing movement to challenge the business model of pharmaceutical companies and to propose actions to the government. In the dossier Improved corporate conduct in consumer goods — labour rights, SOMO will exert influence on companies to improve their business conduct so workers and communities’ rights are protected and respected, and grievances are effectively remediated. SOMO and its partners present in garment and electronics production countries will be involved in new case studies and evaluations. The international networks such as GoodElectronics, and Electronics Watch are involved in research, exchange of information, lobby, campaigning and capacity building. SOMO plans to file complaints at judicial or non-judicial complaint mechanisms based on case studies in the supply chain of consumer goods. Additionally, SOMO will share lessons learned with public sector buyers to improve corporate conduct based on case studies of workers’ rights violations and evaluations of voluntary initiatives and the first (enforceable) brand agreements. SOMO will continue to collect a body of evidence to demonstrate the weaknesses of corporate self-regulation and self-auditing, and the necessary shift towards more worker led-monitoring. In the dossier Improved corporate conduct of companies and banks/investors in sectors related to natural resources use and environmental rights, SOMO's Corporate Research Knowledge Center will develop and increase research capacity of partners. It will develop new research methods and incorporate existing methods from other research disciplines, and maintain and update SOMO’s research manual accordingly. SOMO will explore together with Both ENDS how to develop the normative legal case for divestment from fossil fuel related companies including exploring the use of OECD Guidelines as well as using multi-stakeholder processes to influence pension funds and institutional investors in the fossil fuel supply chain. In the dossier Enabling environment for civil society and human rights defenders, SOMO will work with partners on a project aimed at supporting human rights defenders and their organizations in defending human rights by using non-judicial grievance mechanisms. Additionally, SOMO’s Multinationals in Conflict-Affected Areas (MCAA) program will continue researching the impacts on human rights of MNCs operating in conflict-affected areas. These MNCs work in a context that is characterized by increased political tension, social instability, a fragile infrastructure, and a heightened risk of new outbreaks of violence. The presence of MNCs in these areas is associated with elevated human rights risks, and there are real risks of MNCs operating at the detriment of local communities and the environment. The ultimate aim of the program is to prevent MNCs to contribute to conflict and human rights abuses in conflict-affected areas by increasing accountability and empowering civil society. In the dossier Access to effective remedy for victims of business-related human rights and environmental abuse, SOMO and its partners involved in various grievance mechanisms will continue supporting workers, communities, individuals and CSOs in the Global South seeking to address and prevent human rights abuses related to corporate activity. In providing support to complainants, SOMO will partner with national and regional CSOs — such as OECD Watch members, in order to transfer knowledge.