11th UN Forum on business and human rights

Interpretation provided in English, French and Spanish

Session organized by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Brief description of the session
This session will focus on the importance of meaningful engagement with rights holders in the development and operation of non-judicial remedial systems. Taking the Fair Food Program (FFP) as a case study, the session will explore the role of rights holders in the development of the FFP, the FFP’s model for addressing accountability and remedy, how the model has influenced developments in other sectors and countries, and how rights holders have been instrumental in this expansion. Panelists will discuss the benefits of this approach for rights holders and companies, as well as how to replicate this approach in other contexts.

Key objectives of the session

• Enhance rights holders´ ability to engage in the design and development of remedial mechanisms.
  
• Share good practices regarding the design of non-State-based grievance mechanisms.
• Explore the benefits of worker-driven grievance mechanisms, including for companies.
• Discuss how worker-driven models have been and can be adopted in different sectors and contexts.

Background to the discussion
Since 2014, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has led the Accountability and Remedy Project (ARP) to strengthen implementation of the "Access to Remedy" pillar of the UNGPs. Through its work on non-State-based grievance mechanisms (ARP III), OHCHR found that such remedial systems tend to be most effective when those who will ultimately be using those systems have been meaningfully involved in the development of them. Thus, OHCHR has recommended that those developing and operating such mechanisms should give much greater emphasis to the needs, expectations and perspectives of the people for whose use these mechanisms are intended. Further, OHCHR has called for business enterprises to engage proactively with those seeking to develop and implement worker-driven grievance mechanisms.
Of the worker-driven models currently in existence, the Fair Food Program is one of the most long-standing, and is also widely regarded as being one of the most advanced. That program was built upon farmworker community organizing led by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, who pioneered a worker-led, market-enforced approach to the protection of human rights in corporate supply chains. Over the past several years, this so-called Worker-driven Social Responsibility paradigm has begun being replicated in other countries and contexts. This session will examine the drivers behind the success of the FFP and the latest global developments in their remedial model.

Additional background documents

• Accountability and Remedy Project
• ARP III report/guidance and explanatory addendum
• Summary of ARP III guidance on meeting the effectiveness criteria
• Fair Food Program and Fair Food Standards Council
• Coalition of Immokalee Workers

•  Worker-driven Social Responsibility Network
• Antonella Angelini & Shauna Curphey, The Overlooked Advantages of the Independent Monitoring and Complaint Investigation System in the Worker-driven Social Responsibility Model in US Agriculture, 2022 Business and Human Rights Journal, 1-6.