The UK Action Plan on Business and Human Rights will bring little comfort to victims of corporate abuse, says UK NGO Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID).
The Action Plan is a damp squib more concerned with pandering to the concerns of British business rather than upholding the UK’s human rights obligations.
As is made abundantly clear in the Action Plan, even if human rights abuses are exposed companies are unlikely to be penalised and remedial action for harm caused will be largely dependent on a company’s goodwill and the effectiveness of its internal grievance procedures. The government continues to turn a deaf ear to criticisms that voluntary mechanisms do not provide an appropriate and adequate means of safeguarding human rights against business abuse.
See http://raid-uk.org/docs/Press_Releases/PR_UK_Action_Plan_130904.pdf.