There are no rights without remedies. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights has three “pillars”, the third of which is “Access to Remedy” (UNGPs Principles 25-31). States have duties to provide these remedies, and businesses should establish remedial mechanisms at the operational level. In addition, companies participating in multi-stakeholder initiatives (“MSIs”) with human rights standards are to ensure effective human rights grievance mechanisms are available.
Our work has been focused on these non-governmental MSI complaint mechanisms. This work has been based on our own empirical research, which has involved a multi-year study of these complaint mechanisms, digesting all information available through public reporting and first-person interviews.
We have interviewed individuals at all levels of operation and use of these mechanisms. We have interviewed the people operating the mechanisms as well as hundreds of claimants (individuals, community members, labor unions, NGOs) to get the critical rightsholder perspective of whether, to what extent, how and when, these systems succeed or fail to provide effective remedies.
We have analyzed these complaint systems to understand what makes them function well and what blocks access to remedy. We have recommendations on how systems should, and should not, be
structured.
