New Publications
OECD Watch Quarterly Case Update February 2010
The highlights of this Quarterly Case Update include three new OECD Guidelines complaints against Goldcorp Inc, Triumph and Vattenfall AB. Additionally, the Argentine and UK NCPs have closed in the cases against Skanska and Vedanta resources. Other developments have taken place in the cases against Cermaq, Intex Resources, SHV Holdings, Shell, and the Toyota Motor Company.
OECD Watch Key Issues for a review of the OECD Guidelines
Based on an extensive round of internal consultations OECD Watch has compiled the list of key issues that must be addressed in a review of the OECD Guidelines. The key issues fall into three categories: conditions and modalities for the review process, scope and issues related to the substantive provisions of the Guidelines, and Procedural Guidance-related issues.
OECD Watch summary of the side event at the OHCHR Consultation on business and human rights
In the context of the OHCHR consultation with John Ruggie on the “Protect, Respect, Remedy” framework, OECD Watch organized a lunchtime side event that was aimed at exploring if and how the OECD Guidelines could be employed to operationalize the Ruggie framework, and how the Ruggie framework can help improve the OECD Guidelines during the upcoming review in 2010.
OECD Watch Quarterly Case Update Autumn 2009
One new OECD complaint has been filed by NGOs since June 2009. Wake Up and Fights for Your Rights, Madudu Group, supported by FIAN, lodges complaint against Neumann Kaffee Gruppe with the German NCP regarding forced evictions in Uganda. Two OECD complaints have been closed. The Australian NCP has issued a final statement in Cerrejón Coal case against BHP-Billiton, Anglo-American, and Xstrata. An agreement has been reached with one local community, however, the issues at five other communities remain unresolved. The Dutch NCP has closed the Shell Pandacan case in the Philippines without a mediated resolution. The detailed final statement upholds the claim that Shell has violated OECD Guidelines’ clause on disclosure of non-financial information but dismisses the two other claims made by the complainents. Final statements are expected soon in the BTC case.
OECD Watch’s recommendations on the framework proposed by the SRSG on Business and Human Rights
This OECD Watch paper provides a contribution to the current international debate on business and human rights, with a specific focus on the relationship between the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the ‘Ruggie mandate’. The likely review of the OECD Guidelines in 2010 will provide an opportunity to strengthen human rights elements of the OECD Guidelines and contribute to the ‘operationalisation’ of the framework developed by John Ruggie, Special Representative to the United Nations Secretary General (SRSG) on Business and Human Rights.
