[Note: This piece was also published as part of the UN Forum blog series here.]

" Six secrets to success: Analysis of key success factors for remedy in the case of DRC workers vs. Heineken at the Dutch NCP ", 3 December 2017

During a panel discussion at the 6th annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights...representatives of OECD Watch, Heineken, the Dutch NCP, and victims from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) discussed the successful process towards remedy following business-related human rights abuses by Heineken.

With OECD Watch’s assistance, the case under discussion had been filed with the Dutch NCP in 2015 by 168 factory workers previously employed by Heineken’s Congolese subsidiary, Bralima, for violations of labor rights during 1999-2002, as a civil war raged in the eastern DRC. 

...[T]he NCP process led to a deal between the victims and Heineken that involved Heineken paying approximately US$2 million in compensation to the victims...Six key secrets to success emerged from the discussion...

... If the OECD Guidelines and NCPs are going to play any sort of meaningful role in the corporate accountability and business and human rights arena it is crucial that countries find that political will. OECD Watch’s new campaign is...demanding ​#EffectiveNCPsNow and reminding everyone that #RemedyIsTheReason.