Global supply chains in the electronics sector are complex and involve a wide range of actors, working in multiple sites, with goods and workers crossing multiple borders. In particular, mineral supply chains are highly globalized, and responsible sourcing of minerals, including tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold (3TG), is high on the agenda of many leading downstream companies.
While the mining industry, including artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), supports the livelihoods of millions of people globally and plays an important role in poverty alleviation and development, it can also have a negative environmental impact and contribute to human rights and labour rights abuses. Reports of human traf cking, forced labour, and child labour, have raised serious concerns for downstream companies about the social cost of doing business with the mining industry, especially within ASM.
As outlined in the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, businesses not only have a responsibility to prevent human rights abuses, but also to provide remedies to victims where harm has occurred. While the electronic industry has made meaningful progress to prevent human rights abuses through greater due diligence, the development of guidance and best practices to help businesses remediate adverse human rights impacts when they do occur has been limited.
While significant progress has been made on supplier due diligence, remediation for victims remains a new area for the private sector. IOM’s Guidelines go beyond due diligence; they outline a Six-Step Process to help companies identify the steps to follow, the stakeholders to engage with, and the different factors to consider to take incidents forward when victims have been identified in the supply chain:
• Step 1: Verify the allegation
• Step 2: Determine the type and level of response
• Step 3: Design the remediation action plan
• Step 4: Implement and monitor the remediation action plan
• Step 5: Incident closure
• Step 6: Capture lessons learned
The Remediation Guidelines were developed in consultation with downstream companies, audit programmes, smelters and refiners, governments, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, and IOM experts.
It is our hope that these Guidelines will serve as a starting point for companies wishing to initiate or expand their remediation work.