Access to justice & labour rights: innovative paths for conflict resolution

Institutions for Conflict Resolution (COI)

Institutions for Conflict Resolution & Radboud Law Clinic seminar on conflict resolution & AtJ for victims of labour rights violations

<h2>P rogramme</h2>1 2:30-13:30: Lunch13:30-15:00: Keynote: Conflict Resolution Seminar Access to justice for victims of labour rights violations: the case of interactive governance in global value chains,' by Prof Diller, Geneva Graduate Institute/ILOfollowed by Q&amp;A15:00-15:30: Tea/coffee break15:30-17:00: Panel discussion ‘Access to justice for victims of labour rights violations: new challenges and innovative paths to conflict resolution’The goal of this panel is to flag ‘what is new’ in the field of access to justice for victims of labour rights violations such as:<ul><li>new (or ‘recently discovered’) types of conflicts in the field of labour rights violations</li><li>changed/changing roles of the ‘traditional’ dispute resolution institutions (eg in view of new types of conflicts or other societal developments)</li><li>new/upcoming fora or path for access to justice, including the role of private actors.</li></ul>Panelists:<ul><li>Ms. Nicky Touw, PhD Researcher, Department of Public Law, Open University, 'Transnational court cases against parent companies for human rights violations in the supply chain, transparency obligations and evidence'</li><li>Dr. Tesseltje de Lange, Professor of EU Migration Law, Radboud University, 'Access to justice to claim rights for migrant workers under the EU Employer Sanctions Directive and the Seasonal Workers Directive'</li><li>Ms. Marlou Overheul, PhD Researcher, Molengraaff Institute of Private Law, Utrecht University, 'Compensation schemes for occupational diseases as an alternative to tort law (Chromium-6 case studies)'</li><li>Mr. Roberto Baumgarten Kuster, Faleck &amp; Associados and Radboud University, 'Dispute Systems Design in labour rights violations – compensation systems in practices similar to slavery '</li></ul> 17:00: Reception

<h3>Keynote summary</h3>Access to justice for labour rights violations remains beyond reach for the majority of developing country workers in global supply chains. Credible reports continue to highlight a range of business-related abuses in supply chains, including unsafe working conditions, substandard wages and forced overtime, and lack of freedom of association. Workplace grievance procedures are inadequate or non-existent and access to labour or civil courts is often unavailable or ineffective. Conflicting interests among countries are slowing the development of a binding international treaty-based mechanism to coordinate effective recourse to victims of rights abuses across countries and global industries.Ten years ago, in a tragic demonstration of the danger of marginalizing labour interests, the worst industrial accident on record left more than 1’100 workers dead and several thousand more injured in the Rana Plaza multi-factory building collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The incapacity of the country’s legal and political institutions to offer equal treatment and fair compensation to the Rana Plaza victims spurred the launch of the Rana Plaza Arrangement, a multi-stakeholder initiative (MSI) that processed claims and delivered income benefits and medical care in line with the standards and expertise of the International Labour Organization.The participation of the government of Bangladesh with local and global representatives of industry, unions and NGOs in the MSI led to the country’s first pilot program for employment injury benefits – for all export sector garment workers at present with the aim of extending coverage to workers in other economic sectors after 3-5 years. A closer look at the impact of this innovative initiative within the overall governance system in which it operated displays the potential – and risks – of using MSIs as steppingstones to legal and institutional reforms for resolution of labour rights abuses in the context of developing countries competing for global supply chain investment. <h3>Summary of panel talks</h3>'Transnational court cases against parent companies for human rights violations in the supply chain, transparency obligations and evidence'Transnational court cases against parent companies in relation to human rights violations in their supply chain have been one of the ways in victims have been trying to get access to justice. Currently, the European legislator is debating a proposal for a European Directive that will arguably formalize and harmonize such cases taking place within the EU, and will more broadly impose obligations on corporations to prevent and remedy human rights harms taking place in their supply chains. Nicky Touw will talk about this development, outlining the proposals and current points of debate amongst the different legislative branches. She will question to what extent the Directive might be a leap forward in getting access to justice for victims or whether the Directive could actually stifle progress. Specifically she will address the concern that transparency obligations will not necessarily lead to admissible evidence for the purpose of litigation.'Compensation schemes for occupational diseases as an alternative to tort law (Chromium-6 case studies)'Financial redress for victims of occupational diseases can be offered through no-fault compensation schemes. No-fault compensation schemes have an explicit mission in promoting perceived fairness and justice. The objective is to offer a quick, fair and just procedure and outcome, while preventing civil court procedures and restoring trust. However, the question is whether applicants of these no-fault schemes indeed experience perceived fairness and justice. Marlou discusses the result of an in-depth interview study with 58 victims involved in no-fault schemes for occupational diseases in The Netherlands. She focusses on perceived procedural justice, outcome concerns and trust in the (former) employer.'Dispute Systems Design in labour rights violations – compensation systems in practices similar to slavery 'Large-scale labour rights violations, such as Salton Winery Case and Operation Rescue Case are often addressed through litigation in Brazil. However, Dispute Systems Design (DSD) can establish compensation systems, either in or out of court, to resolve claims. This approach can benefit families as they often possess documentation to support their property, residency, and economic activity, which are crucial in tort law. Can a compensation system be designed to efficiently compensate victims without adhering to standard procedural rules? What risks should be considered?

<h3>K eynote bio</h3>Janelle M. Diller is Senior Research Associate with the Geneva Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies, and Independent Counsel with Appleton Luff International Lawyers (Switzerland). Her practice and research concentrate on labour and human rights compliance in international trade and investment and in global supply chains and multi-stakeholder relations to promote rights, mitigate risks, and remediate harm. She served as legal counsel for 20 years with the International Labour Organization (ILO), a UN agency, where she helped expand the role of international labour rights in development, trade, investment, and business activity by negotiating ILO accords with the World Bank, OECD, other UN agencies, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). She played a major role in designing, negotiating, and guiding the Rana Plaza Arrangement, a US$30 million Arrangement among global and local supply chain actors for remediation of 3600+ worker injuries and deaths from the Rana Plaza global supply chain accident in Bangladesh in 2013. She also made significant contributions to the drafting and application of international labour standards and ILO Declarations and guidelines. As Legal Director of a Washington-based human rights law group, she represented human rights victims in United Nations and Inter-American petitions, conducted fact-finding and reporting on gross human rights violations including forced labour in Myanmar (Burma), and advocated for the incorporation of international human rights into domestic legal systems by means of treaty ratification and judicial interpretation (US) and constitutional reforms in emerging democracies. Her human rights law analysis contributed to the UN Guiding Principles on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and her fact-finding reports on refugee treatment informed UN negotiations for durable solutions involving Southeast Asian and Central American refugees. She has taught international law courses, including at the University of Bern, University of Windsor (Canada), and Georgetown University and the University of Virginia (US). She recently served as a Fulbright Research Chair in Human Rights and Social Justice at the University of Ottawa and a Max Planck Scholar at the Max Planck Institute of Comparative Public and International Law. She has published widely in contexts linking human rights and labour to international business, investment, trade and supply chains Her book on economic, social, and cultural rights, Securing Dignity and Freedom through Human Rights, received recognition as a UN Research Guide to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She is an Associate Editor of the Manchester Journal of International Economic Law. <h3>Bios panel speakers</h3>Nicky Touw holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Groningen and an LLB (cum laude) from the University of Amsterdam. After obtaining her LLM in criminal law from the University of Amsterdam in 2014, she worked for several law firms in the Netherlands as a paralegal and later as an attorney specializing in financial and corporate criminal law. She is no longer an attorney and is currently working as a full-time PhD researcher at the Open University of the Netherlands with a project on Access to information for victims of human rights violations in civil litigation against multinational corporations, a member of the expert group for the ‘Rethinking Secondary Liability for International Crimes’ project and she was a visiting researcher at UCLA school of law.Marlou Overheul is a PhD Candidate at the Molengraaff Institute for Private Law, the Utrecht Centre for Accountability and Liability Law (UCALL) and Empirical Research into Institutions for Conflict Resolution (ERI). Her research concerns the (perceived) fairness of no-fault compensation schemes for occupational diseases as an alternative to tort law. For her research, she recently stayed at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies of Oxford University as a recognised student. Before starting her PhD research, she worked as a researcher at the Dutch Supreme Court.Tesseltje de Lange is Professor of European Migration Law at the Radboud University and Director of the Centre for Migration Law (CMR). She is also a member of the board of the Research Centre on the State and Law (STeR), member of RUNOMI (Radboud University Network for Migrant Inclusion) and the research group EUROPAL (European Politics, Administration and Law). Her main research interest lies with labour migration, student migration, migrant entrepreneurship, migrant inclusion, and work and migration related issues. She is regularly called on to advise EU as well as Dutch institutions and private entities on migration and inclusion related policies, legal procedures, and putting migration law in practice.Roberto Baumgarten Kuster received his LL.B. degree from the Federal University of Espírito Santo (2011), and an LL.M. degree with merit from the University College London (2015) with Merit. He is an External Ph.D. candidate at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen in the Netherlands.Roberto is a Senior Associate at Faleck &amp; Associates since October 2016 and has been working as a negotiator, mediator, and facilitator. He has been allocated in compensation programs with the use of facilitation and mediation, stemming from major national tragedies and complex situations. He has conducted hundreds of mediations/facilitations and collaborated with project and people management and training of mediation teams.&nbsp;He was recognized as a Future Leader in Commercial Litigation by Who’s Who Legal in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

<h2>About the seminar series</h2>Institutions for Conflict Resolution / Conflictoplossende Instituties (COI) is a research collaboration between Utrecht University, Leiden University, and Radboud University Nijmegen. As part of its activities, the COI research group organises seminars throughout the year for researchers interested in current and innovative topics relating to institutions for conflict resolution. The seminars feature international speakers who present their work, followed by Q&amp;A and discussion. Themes include the evolving role of judges in preventing and resolving conflicts, the role of alternative avenues and non-public actors, and how societal challenges such as climate change or digitalisation affect institutions for conflict resolution. Seminars are hosted on a rotating basis at each of the three universities, and are delivered in a hybrid format: online via Microsoft Teams and in-person, on campus at the host institution.

<h2>In person attendance</h2>The seminar will take place in a hybrid format: online and in-person at the host institution:R adboud University Nijmegen, Faculty of Law, Grotuis building, Room -1.075, Montessorilaan 10 6525 HR NijmegenPlease choose the ticket 'Attendance in Person (Radboud Law Faculty)' if you choose to attend in person. Please email Dr Anna Pivaty at anna.pivaty@ru.nl if you h ave any questions about personal attendance.

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