A/HRC/44/32 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 19 May 2020 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-fourth session 15 June–3 July 2020 Agenda items 2 and 3 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Improving accountability and access to remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuse through non-State-based grievance mechanisms Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights* Summary The present report sets out recommended action to improve accountability and access to remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuses through non-Statebased grievance mechanisms. It has been compiled as part of the Accountability and Remedy Project of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, pursuant to the request of the Human Rights Council in its resolution 38/13. It follows reports prepared for the project’s first phase, on judicial mechanisms (A/HRC/32/19 and A/HRC/32/19/Add.1), and its second phase, on State-based nonjudicial mechanisms (A/HRC/38/20 and A/HRC/38/20/Add.1). The report explains the scope and methodology of the work, makes comments as to the potential uses of the report and makes general observations about the role of nonState-based grievance mechanisms in achieving accountability and access to remedy. It includes an annex containing a set of recommended policy objectives for States and relevant non-State actors, supported by a series of elements intended to demonstrate the different ways in which those objectives may be met in practice. The report is complemented by an addendum (A/HRC/44/32/Add.1), prepared as a companion document to provide additional explanation and context drawn from the two-year research process for the current phase of the project. * Agreement was reached to publish the present report after the standard publication date owing to circumstances beyond the submitter’s control. GE.20-06801(E) 