Bangkok – Today (3 June) at the 2021 United Nations Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched the Operational Guidelines for Businesses on Remediation of Migrant Worker Grievances (hereafter, ‘the Guidelines’) which provide support to the private sector to develop voluntary remediation programmes that effectively redress grievances of migrant workers in their supply chains.

The Guidelines were produced in partnership with The Remedy Project – a social enterprise that promotes the rights of migrant workers in accessing remedies – and in consultation with industry groups, technical experts, UN agencies and civil society,

The guidelines provide companies with a clear 7-step framework to develop and implement a voluntary remediation program to address workers’ grievances. In particular, the 7-steps highlight the importance of building trust with workers by actively involving them and/or their representatives in the design and development of the remediation programme. The Guidelines also underline how learning and constantly incorporating feedback are as crucial as the implementation of redress.  

“In recent years, IOM has established positive and productive partnerships with private sector actors spanning from large multinationals to small and medium-sized enterprises to promote the human and labour rights of migrant workers in their supply chains and operations, primarily through our Asia-regional CREST initiative. These Guidelines are IOM’s direct response to the needs raised to us by business partners about how to address migrant workers’ grievances in supply chains,” said Dr. Nenette Motus, IOM Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific.

The Guidelines, which are grounded in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, international labour standards and industry good practices, provide key practices, case study examples, additional options and guidance under each step for users to easily follow and adopt.

“A worker-centric remediation program requires companies to actively engage with workers or workers-based community throughout the process, it is not only enhancing trust and effectiveness of the program, but the feedback generated during the process can also contribute to the continuous learning and on-going human rights due diligence of the company,” said Archana Kotecha, CEO and founder of The Remedy Project.

For IOM, the development of the Guidelines has been important for articulating the organization’s vision for how grievance and remediation mechanisms should be designed, implemented and monitored inclusive of migrant workers. 

IOM will continue to engage with diverse partners to realize this vision and to mobilize true transformation.

The Guidelines can be found at: https://publications.iom.int/books/operational-guidelines-businesses-rem...

For more information, please contact at CREST, Maximilian Pottler, at Tel: +842838222057, Email: mpottler@iom.int or Itayi Viriri at IOM Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Tel: +66659390934, Email: iviriri@iom.int