A/HRC/42/41 justice those responsible for exposure to toxic substances. An effective remedy delayed can be an effective remedy denied. 77. Every rights holder is entitled to initiate proceedings for appropriate redress before a competent court or other adjudicator in accordance with the rules and procedures provided by law. States must ensure timely access to effective remedies to victims of human rights violations occurring from exposure to toxic substances. 70 78. Workers exposed to toxics are harmed when they are exposed, not only when a disease or disability manifests itself in a worker or in a worker’s child. The latency of diseases and disabilities after exposure, which can be years or even decades, can make access to an effective remedy impossible for many workers and their families. The prevention of further exposure by workers is an essential element of a guarantee of nonrepetition. 79. States have the primary duty to realize the worker’s right to an appropriate and effective remedy, including under domestic legislation. States have an obligation to automatically investigate the possible existence of widespread violations after a minimum threshold is reached and to engage in international cooperation in doing so. This should be separate from any investigations or actions undertaken by the victim to pursue an effective remedy. States should ensure the timely cessation of conditions that give rise to occupational exposures, including changes in relevant laws and practices, prohibitions on the production and use of certain classes of substances and the dissemination of information to prevent recurrence. 71 Penalties imposed should be significant enough to induce and motivate business enterprises and other actors to take precautionary measures to prevent workers’ exposure to toxic substances and to act as a deterrent to ensure non-recurrence. 80. Workers most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of exposure often face the greatest difficulties in accessing effective remedies. Female workers, for example, are less likely to access effective remedies from toxic exposures due to economic insecurity, power imbalances, unequal access to education and information, caretaking responsibilities and other gendered roles, which further compound the challenge of accessing remedies for exposure to toxic substances. 72 Therefore, mechanisms for remedy should pay special attention to gender, age, status and other factors that may impede access. States should take enhanced action to provide access to effective remedies to affected groups, specifically women, as they and their offspring experience the impacts of toxic exposures differently and face additional barriers for a multitude of social, economic, legal, technical and cultural reasons. 81. Business enterprises that cause, contribute to or are linked to occupational exposures to toxic substances also have a responsibility to establish robust processes to enable workers to have timely access to an appropriate and effective remedy. States and businesses should consider all possible remedies, for example, by promoting the use of the best available technologies and best environmental practices to prevent exposure. 82. A major challenge, particularly for workers in supply chains, is that the business enterprise may not have sufficient resources to provide an adequate and effective remedy to affected workers. States must ensure that beneficiaries of services are also responsible for the provision of remedies. Indeed, some States have developed legislation to address circumstances where an enterprise provides or enables another to acquire benefits of any kind from worker exploitation, which can include exposure to toxic substances. 83. Information regarding settlements with workers is important to understand the extent of violations of safe and healthy work. The information about remedies provided should be confidential only to the extent necessary to respect the victims’ right to privacy. Confidentiality provisions of settlement agreements (commonly known as gag or 70 71 72 E/CN.4/2006/42, para. 45. A/HRC/33/41, para. 40. See, e.g., Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 33 (2015) on women’s access to justice, paras. 3, 8–10 and 13. See also The Danish Institute for Human Rights, Women in Business and Human Rights (Copenhagen, 2018), pp. 50–51. 17