Global Rights Compliance (GRC) delivered a training session on Pillar III of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) at the 4th Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia Summer Academy on Business and Human Rights.
The session explored access to remedy as an integral part of effective human rights due diligence, highlighting the need to think in terms of a broader “remedy ecosystem”. Courts, ombuds institutions and National Human Rights Institutions, OECD National Contact Points, trade unions, civil society organisations and company-level grievance mechanisms all have distinct but complementary roles to play in ensuring access to effective remedy.
Drawing on recent case law, GRC’s Due Diligence Lead, Claire Bright, discussed emerging lessons on the importance of risk mapping as a cornerstone of the human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) process, access to evidence and the role of overriding mandatory provisions in transnational cases.
The session also considered what makes grievance mechanisms effective in practice, drawing on lessons from GRC’s community-based monitoring system in Pakistan. The discussion highlighted the importance of trusted and accessible channels that enable concerns to be identified and addressed early, while remaining grounded in the realities and perspectives of affected communities.
A key takeaway from the session was that effective remedy should not be viewed solely as a response to due diligence failures, but as an integral part of a credible and effective human rights due diligence system.