November 2016

This report contributes to ongoing debates about how the United Kingdom can best fulfil its obligations to enable people affected by human rights failures of UK companies abroad to access remedy…In some respects the United Kingdom has shown leadership in establishing principles and processes to protect the human rights of people affected by the overseas operations of UK businesses, in keeping with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The UK has led the way internationally in the creation and revision of a National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights. The UK’s National Contact Point has received the most complaints of any OECD National Contact Point globally. Multi-stakeholder initiatives…have been established in the UK and attempted to forge collaborative responses involving companies, civil society and labour unions…Despite these initiatives spanning administrative, judicial and non-judicial processes, successive reviews have found that remedy remains rare and inaccessible to those harmed by UK companies operating overseas…