Themis Students Push Companies to Enforce Human Rights
The Chairman thanks the distinguished delegates and declares the floor open to consultations on the drafting of a resolution on multinational companies and human rights. Fourteen national delegations, each marked by a pennant, express their positions on the basic principles to be adopted. We're not in Geneva, however,but in classroom AS2. It is not a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, but it's the closest thing to it that you can witness. "It's 90% realistic", assures the President of the assembly Kamelia Kemileva, now Executive Manager of the Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in Geneva, for two years Special Advisor of the President of the Human Rights Council.
For three days, students of the best international law oriented faculties that are part of the Themis program experienced the strenuous negotiation process that lies behind the drafting of a UN document. Their task was to improve the resolution number 26/22 of June 2014, "Human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises", by introducing innovative methods for its implementation. At the end of the three days, after an intense debate, a resolution sponsored by Ghana with Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Nigeria, United Mexican States, the Republic of Cuba, Botswana, and India was approved. It encourages all States to take steps to implement the Guiding Principles, it welcomes the creation of Regional Commissions in each continent and extends the mandate of the Working Group to superintend the commitment of the States.
It all begun three months ago when fifty-six students of the Themis network (Bocconi, Esade in Barcelona, Paris-Est Créteil, Freie in Berlin, Maastricht Law School, WU University of Economics and Business in Vienna; students from the Singapore School of Law did not take part to the seminar) were divided into fourteen groups, as many as the countries involved in the simulation. The participants were asked to research the jurisprudence of the country they represented. They didn't know each other, so they had to build the team and draft a position paper using an online platform. "It wasn't easy", says Valerio Angelo Bianchi, a Bocconi exchange student in Barcelona. "The team building process was difficult because of the geographical distance, but once we met in Milan things went better".
On Wednesday, 16 March, an introductory session and the first informal discussion took place. On Thursday, 17 March, the students gathered for the first formal plenary session. On Friday, 18 March, the final resolution was drafted. The best position paper (United Arab Emirates) and best team (Ghana) were awarded. Each group has been judged on the consistency to their country's position on human rights and transnational corporations and on the level of cooperation within the group and with other teams. "It was a challenge", says Lucrezia Sperzani, a Bocconi student at Esade. "We are not used to negotiating and to consider the political influence on the decision-making process. I will treasure the experience". In April Sperzani will start working in Barcelona at a financial and banking law firm. "The Themis network was very helpful".
Francesca Ginexi, the coordinator of the simulation for Bocconi University, highlights the value of the experience. "Students have learned to represent different interests, to work using non-traditional methods, to enter into a negotiation, and they're all skills useful while working with a company or a law firm. The ability in building and managing a team, talking in public and conciliating different views made the difference". Matteo Garofalo, who's back from a semester at Freie Berlin, has appreciated "the chance to use skills that are not usually solicited in classrooms".
Students will engage in all kinds of negotiation during their working lives. The sooner they understand their importance the better it is. "The simulation was a revelatory experience", Kemileva says. "Students in law are not usually taught that sometimes political considerations, regional problems, business alliances, supranational organizations make the legal logic irrelevant. The simulation is a way to open the curtain and find out what's beyond the law".