Human rights grievances are serious and urgent issues that can affect your reputation, legal compliance, and stakeholder trust. As a corporate social responsibility (CSR) practitioner, you need to have a clear and effective process to address them quickly and fairly. Here are some steps you can follow to improve your human rights grievance mechanism and response.
The first step is to identify the grievance and its source. A grievance is any complaint or concern related to your business activities or impacts on human rights. It can come from your employees, customers, suppliers, communities, or civil society organizations. You need to have a transparent and accessible way for them to raise their grievances, such as a hotline, an email, a website, or a local office. You also need to monitor and track the grievances you receive and acknowledge them promptly.
Plus it is important to point out that the reporter will be protected by the organization, and there will not be any kind of harrasement, being the report anonymus. If possible, a third party should manage the grievance.
The second step is to assess the grievance and its severity. You need to determine if the grievance is valid, credible, and relevant to your human rights policy and commitments. You also need to evaluate the potential risks and impacts of the grievance on the affected parties, your business, and your stakeholders. You should prioritize the grievances that pose the most serious or urgent threats to human rights and require immediate action.
If possible, ask for some proof that backs up the grievance. It is important to have something tangible to support it and not only a word.
The third step is to engage with the parties involved in the grievance and seek their input and feedback. You need to communicate clearly and respectfully with the grievant and the alleged perpetrator, as well as any other relevant stakeholders, such as your employees, managers, suppliers, or local authorities. You should explain the grievance process and the expected outcomes, listen to their views and concerns, and address any questions or misunderstandings. You should also seek their consent and cooperation for the resolution of the grievance.
Prior to this, it is very important to have a clear reglament or something to rule the different offences that people could perpetrate with clear examples in order to encourage people to have a path to behave in workplace, for instance.
The fourth step is to resolve the grievance and provide a remedy. You need to apply the principles of effectiveness, legitimacy, accessibility, predictability, equity, transparency, rights-compatibility, and dialogue to your grievance resolution process. You should aim to find a mutually acceptable solution that restores or compensates the harm caused by the grievance and prevents its recurrence. You should also document and report the resolution and the remedy to the parties and the public.
If there is not a way to find a mutually acceptable solution or the harm caused was so high, it would be relevant to have the possibility to expell the perpetrator, to protect the organizational culture.
The fifth step is to follow up and review the grievance and the resolution. You need to monitor and evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the remedy and the satisfaction of the parties. You should also solicit and incorporate their feedback and suggestions for improvement. You should also review your grievance mechanism and response regularly and identify any gaps or challenges that need to be addressed. You should also learn from your experience and best practices and update your human rights policy and performance accordingly.
The observation of the identified behavior that led the grievance, must be checked and ensure that should not be in place anymore. All teammembers must be aware of the investigation, the outcomes and how the recurrences are being prevented.
The sixth step is to enhance your capacity and competence to address human rights grievances. You need to invest in training and awareness-raising for your staff, managers, suppliers, and partners on human rights issues and expectations. You should also seek external expertise and guidance from human rights experts, organizations, or networks that can help you improve your grievance mechanism and response. You should also collaborate and engage with your peers, industry associations, or multi-stakeholder initiatives that can provide you with support and benchmarking opportunities.