Guest Lecture by Prof. Tamar Meshel
Business and Human Rights Dispute Settlement: The OECD NPCs as Grievance Mechanisms
02. Mai
02 May 2023, 2.15 pm, Leuphana University, C 40.601 (central building, sixth floor)
A central purpose and responsibility of the OECD National Contact Points (NCPs) is to resolve specific instances, or grievances, brought against companies for alleged violations of the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Broadly speaking, NCPs use three main processes to resolve grievances. These processes can be viewed on a spectrum according to their degree of structure and formality—mediation, conciliation, and informal methods (negotiations, consultations, dialogue, etc). While all of these mechanisms can be effective, NCPs have long been criticized for offering them in an inconsistent, inaccessible, and illegitimate manner. Professor Meshel will discuss the NCP dispute
resolution process and present the results of a study of specific instances submitted to NCPs around the world, the dispute resolution mechanisms used, and their outcomes. The potential for using dispute resolution mechanisms not currently offered by NCPs, in particular arbitration, will also be addressed.
Professor Tamar Meshel is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law. She holds academic degrees from the University of British Columbia (J.D.) and the University of Toronto (B.A. Hons, LL.M., and SJD). Professor Meshel researches, teaches, and consults in the areas of domestic and international arbitration, international water law, and business and human rights. She has authored more than 50 publications in these fields. Previously, she worked as an international dispute resolution lawyer in Vancouver, Canada, as Deputy Counsel at the International Court of Arbitration in Paris, France, and as legal advisor to the Jerusalem Arbitration Center in Israel and Palestine. She was also a Research Fellow with the Max Planck Institute for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law in Luxembourg, a Scholar-in-Residence with WilmerHale's International Arbitration Group in London, and a Visiting Scholar at Edinburgh Law School.