A/HRC/34/47
The overview included examples of how corporate defendant litigation under the Statute
had held corporations accountable and provided remedies to survivors who had no other
means of redress. However, over the previous few years the Supreme Court of the United
States had severely limited such litigation, particularly in corporate defendant cases,
restricting the extraterritorial scope of the Statute. Nonetheless, the Statute demonstrated
that a robust system of litigation could lead corporations to pay closer attention to the
adverse impacts of their operations and provide an opportunity for victims to expose
abusive corporate behaviour and obtain meaningful monetary compensation.
120. One delegation asked whether it would be relevant for a treaty to mention not only
legal, but also non-legal, complaint mechanisms, such as those of national human rights
institutions, and enquired about the added value of such a wide range of formal and
informal redress avenues.
121. Another delegation acknowledged that there had not been much progress in the
implementation of the third pillar of the Guiding Principles. It offered to share information
about an in-depth study that had been conducted on how to hold the national corporations
of the delegation’s country accountable even when they operated abroad, which had
revealed ample opportunities in terms of access to justice, including through criminal laws.
122. In response to one delegation’s question about different levels of access across
nations to scientific evidence and the use of specific technologies to prove human rights
violations, one panellist recalled the international obligation of scientific cooperation in
environmental law and the need for a binding instrument to shift the burden of proof, while
pointing to the need to increase education for judiciary and legal professionals on
international human rights law.
123. One member of the Working Group on business and human rights stated that the
Working Group would focus on the third pillar of the Guiding Principles in its upcoming
reports and at its forum in 2017. He encouraged all stakeholders to use the Working
Group’s communication procedures.
124. In response to questions raised by several delegations on types of remedies, one
panellist indicated that a wide range of options could be established through a treaty, but
that all would need to fulfil the requirements of accessibility, independence, effectiveness
and affordability. Local non-judicial bodies, such as corporate grievance mechanisms,
national human rights institutions, ombudspersons and national contact points, were
important since they were often more accessible. They could not, however, replace judicial
mechanisms and thus were only complementary. They also required a lesser burden of
proof and might allow for more creativity in the types of remedies granted, but procedural
guarantees should be put in place for establishing such agreements.
125. In response to a question posed by some delegations on the type of international
mechanism that could be established, one panellist indicated that he would prefer to use the
monitoring system set up by human rights treaty bodies, which could receive complaints
and authoritatively interpret the standards in the treaty through general recommendations.
126. Several NGOs reiterated the need to include the right to development as a founding
and enforceable right in the treaty, as well as the rights to access to land, water and other
resources, and the rights of migrant workers.
127. One organization reiterated that the utmost priority should be given to access to
remedy on a domestic level through promotion of the rule of law, as such remedy was the
most efficient in terms of cost and time.
21
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