The Role of the OECD National Contact Points in Improving Access to Justice for Victims of Human Rights Violations in the EU Member States

Abstract

In the perspective of the UN Guiding Principles, the OECD National Contact Points constitute important components of a polycentric governance system that must be reinforced and made increasingly coherent to improve victims’ ability to access remedies in the EU. This Chapter provides, first of all, an overview of how the NCPs have been implemented and are functioning in EU member countries, highlighting the persisting challenges to their credibility and effectiveness. It then investigates current trends in the handling of specific instances by EU-based NCPs with the aim of illustrating to what extent these non-judicial mechanisms are improving access to remedy for victims of corporate-related human rights abuses. The concluding paragraph summarizes the points of strength and of weakness of these mechanisms in the European context.