The forum taking place from 16-18 November is the ninth edition of the largest event in the field. Yet, nearly a decade of implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which are non-binding, major problems in access to justice and remedy for victims of corporate human rights abuses remain, and perpetrators enjoy accountability gaps that all but ensure they will not face consequences for abuses.
While many different stakeholders, from government representatives to UN officials, participate in the forum, it is essential that discussion on business impacts on the ground be community-driven. It is those directly affected who best know the impacts of economic projects; they often propel the vital work of documenting and seeking redress for human rights violations, and they need to be front and center in debate.
FIDH President Alice Mogwe emphasises this in her remarks expressed during the opening plenary: “While open, respectful dialogue has the potential to be the basis for substantive change in the lives of those who are directly affected by development projects, too often, it is a rarity. Often, exchanges aimed at finding solutions have happened only after years of struggle by the communities – years during which abuses continued – and in far too many cases such exchanges are not deep, meaningful, respectful, but merely a ‘box-ticking exercise’ performed by companies. Multi-stakeholder dialogue can be a tool, but only if used properly, and if all those participating do so with a genuine commitment to listen and, eventually, to be open to changing their position.”
"Often, exchanges aimed at finding solutions have happened only after years of struggle by the communities – years during which abuses continued – and in far too many cases such exchanges are not deep, meaningful, respectful, but merely a ‘box-ticking exercise’ performed by companies."
Several other FIDH experts will speak during the three-day virtual forum. In a panel on the role of human rights defenders, Maria Isabel Cubides, a researcher at FIDH’s business and human rights desk, will relay the devastating testimony of Antônia Flávia, a member of the Brazilian Amazon community of Piquiá de Baixo, which has suffered abuses perpetrated by the steel industry for decades. For over 10 years, FIDH has made Piquiá de Baixo’s struggle its own, carrying out several missions to the community, sounding the alarm about its critical situation, and issuing recommendations to companies and authorities.
The head of FIDH’s Americas desk, Jimena Reyes, will speak on a panel entitled "Accountability and Remedy when business-related corruption leads to human rights abuses" using examples from Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico to illustrate the challenges that victims of human rights violations engendered by business-related corruption face in obtaining remedy.
In the closing plenary, “Toward a vision for the next decade”, FIDH Deputy Secretary General José Aylwin Oyarzún will share his takeaways from the 2020 forum and outline the stakes and challenges before us in the fight for corporate accountability.
FIDH welcomes the growing momentum in discussion on strengthening access to remedy through binding norms at national (legislative proposals in a series of countries), regional (European Union legislation on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence is under discussion), and international levels (negotiations on the elaboration of a binding treaty). The initiatives being discussed this week must result in ambitious corporate accountability norms, not mere box-ticking exercises. This is the sole way forward to better prevent human rights from being violated.