Date filed
15 June 2005
Keywords
Countries of harm
Current status
Agreement
Sector
NCP

Allegations

The complaint alleges that GSL had breached the human rights and consumer interests provisions of the Guidelines. Specifically, GSL failed to remove children from immigration detention following recommendations of health care professionals. The complaint also states GSL is violating the Guidelines’ consumer interest provision by misrepresenting its policies, procedures and practices with regards to human rights. GSL claims to be “committed to promoting best practice in human rights”.

Relevant OECD Guidelines

Outcome

NGOs raised the complaint at the annual meeting of NCPs in Paris on June 15, 2005. Two days later, the Australian government announced that it was going to transfer all families – not just families seeking asylum – from detention centres to community detention.

The Australian NCP held several meetings with the complainants during its initial assessment and officially accepted the case on August 1, 2005. After several rounds of mediation meetings, the case was concluded with a negotiated settlement on April 6, 2006.

BSL praised the NCP for handling the case “in a positive, transparent and conciliatory manner” with fair treatment of the families and within a reasonable timeframe. The best aspect was the willingness of both parties to meet and openly discuss and try to reach an agreement.

A detailed case study of this complaint is available in OECD Watch’s “Guide to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises Complaint Procedure – Lessons from Past NGO Complaints”.

More details

Documents