OECD National Contact Points: Better navigating conflict to provide remedy to vulnerable communities
November 2016
Each country that is a member of the…OECD…is obliged to set up an NCP office, which is responsible for promoting and implementing the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises…Our report adds to the growing literature on NCPs by examining the efforts to gain redress in practice…
In both case studies discussed in this report - the POSCO and Vedanta cases - human rights grievances were experienced by vulnerable…communities…Violence was experienced…A number of the community members…were killed, and many were…jailed…NCPs have significant potential to provide greater access for victims of human rights abuses to effective remedy… For this potential to be realised, NCPs require strengthening in a number of respects…In summary, these areas include:
- independence from government;
- greater leverage…
- within government coordination;
- cross-country coordination of NCPs;
- encouraging long term improvements in human rights practices in businesses;
- coordination with institutions in the country where the grievance occurred;
- monitoring…
- …increase accessibility…
- Transparency…
- frequency of NCP peer reviews.