19-08-2009 Business & Human Rights: HP launches mini pilot on principles for company-level grievance mechanisms

Excerpt from a letter of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on business and human rights:

The United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on business and human rights is delighted to announce the launch of a pilot project to test the Principles for non-judicial, company-level mechanisms set out in his 2008 and 2009 reports to the UN Human Rights Council.  The Principles require that such mechanisms be: legitimate, accessible, predictable, equitable, rights-compatible, transparent and based in dialogue and/or mediation. The pilot will involve five companies on four continents and from five different sectors: mining, apparel, electronic products, oil and gas, and food.

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A smaller project in collaboration with HP and two of its suppliers in China will review their recent work to introduce improved grievance processes and look at their alignment with the Principles.  The report of this work will be complete in early 2010.