Effective Operational-level Grievance Mechanisms

The participation of business enterprises in legitimate remediation processes when they cause negative impacts on people, is a standard of responsible business conduct recommended by the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP), ILO Recommendation 130 and other international instruments. These instruments recommend the creation or participation in grievance mechanisms at the operational level to enable stakeholders? easy access to an option for remediation of their concerns or impacts. Since the adoption of the UNGPs, there has been some progress in terms of companies, especially among the largest ones, creating OGMs and understanding their usefulness. However, evidence of an uptick in the creation of OGMs remains largely anecdotal. Practice around OGMs shows significant divergences in approach and gaps in performance. Many OGMs lack enough transparency and some have been viewed as adding to the problems of affected people. A common complaint has been the limited attention given to the views and interests of people and communities who are intended to benefit from the OGMs. With some notable exceptions, few studies are based on first-hand information about the impact and effectiveness of OGMs.