Background

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Principle 25 of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provides that "as part of their duty to protect against business-related human rights abuse, States must take appropriate steps to ensure ... those affected have access to effective remedy." 

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The extent to which people can obtain effective remedies for the business-related human rights harms they have suffered is dependent on the way that States respond to this duty. Despite widespread recognition of the benefits of compensation for victim-survivors, in many countries throughout the Asia-Pacific, State based judicial mechanisms for obtaining enforceable remedies, including compensation, are cumbersome and can ultimately be ineffective.

 

Consequently, establishing national compensation schemes for victim-survivors of specific human rights violations, such as slavery and trafficking, is necessary to meet the requirements of an effective remedy. While almost all countries in the world have introduced domestic legislation to address trafficking in persons and other slavery offences such as forced labour, effective remedies remain largely out of reach.   

To address these gaps, we submit that States introduce National Compensation Schemes for Victim-Survivors of Modern Slavery as part of a broader set of remediation measures.

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But how can businesses leverage their influence to support change in their own countries in relation to national remedies? What role should business play in contributing to efforts in establishing a national compensation scheme?

This interactive roundtable will bring together business leaders, human rights organisations, and policy experts from across the Asia-Pacific region to interrogate the leading role of business in supporting the establishment of national compensation schemes. Participants will engage in a structured dialogue, share experiences, and develop advocacy strategies relevant to their respective countries, with a particular focus on the Australian context through the Justice for All project.

Businesses will have the opportunity to contribute to a joint statement in support of the establishment of a National Compensation Scheme for Victim-Survivors of Modern Slavery in Australia.

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Objectives

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• Enhanced understanding of the strategic role businesses can play in advocating for national remedies for human rights abuses, with a focus on slavery and trafficking.

• Identifying challenges and strategies for business engagement in advocacy efforts.

• Understand the importance of business in establishing national compensation schemes for victim-survivors of modern slavery.

• Encouragement of concrete commitments from participants to support and promote effective remedies within the region.

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Key Questions

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Key questions may include: 

• What role should business play in contributing to efforts in establishing a national compensation scheme? 

• How does a national compensation scheme relate to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights? Including in relation to the business responsibility to provide for or cooperate to remediation when they identify that they have caused or contributed to harm?

• What are the barriers to business participation in human rights advocacy, and how can they be overcome? 

• How can businesses leverage their influence to support change in their own countries in relation to national remedies?

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Session Partner