17 September | 14:45-15:45 ICT

Fixing it or faking it? How grievance mechanisms can deliver real remedies

Organized by:

UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

Background

Access to remedy is a core element of responsible business conduct – embedded in the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct and the International Labour Organization (ILO) MNE Declaration. Yet, too often, effective remedies remain elusive for victims of business-related human rights abuse.

In the Asia-Pacific, remedies for adverse human rights impacts in the context of business activities can be pursued through various channels. For example, national human rights institutions can investigate reports of human rights abuses and provide victims with legal support, whereas the OECD National Contact Points for Responsible Business Conduct (NCPs) can offer, inter alia, mediation for alleged breaches of the OECD Guidelines. Regulators and investors are also increasingly scrutinizing corporate responses to human rights harm, driving the growth in private grievance mechanisms at company, industry and multi-stakeholder levels -- though the risk of paper-based compliance exercises remains.

Remedies can include formal apologies, restitution, rehabilitation, compensation, sanctions, and/or guarantees of non-repetition. Recent examples include compensation for sexual exploitation victims in Japan, and outcomes via NCPs that range from stakeholder dialogue to implementation of due diligence and financial compensation. This session brings together various stakeholders and perspectives to explore the circumstances in which 'real’ outcomes can be achieved for victims in the region.

Key Objectives

Highlight what it means for businesses to provide for and cooperate in effective remedies, and why this matters.
Identify the essential ingredients for effective remediation while examining common pitfalls that undermine grievance processes.
Through multi-stakeholder dialogue, encourage continued innovation and commitment to develop stronger remediation practices by demystifying how businesses can provide for and cooperate in remediation.

Guiding Questions

What should effective remedies look like? What are some examples of remedy outcomes achieved in the region, and what are the lessons learned?
What challenges do rightsholders face when engaging with existing remediation mechanisms, especially operational-level grievance mechanisms? From the business perspective, what are the key barriers to providing for or cooperating in remediation?
How can remediation processes create environments conducive to building trust between businesses and rightsholders?

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