Open Letter to the members of the OECD Responsible Business Conduct Committee

Read the letter in: English | Bahasa Indonesia | French | Spanish

Over 100 human rights and environmental organisations – including Indigenous Peoples’ and Afro-descendant peoples’ representative organisations – from more than 55 countries have sent an Open Letter to members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Responsible Business Conduct Committee (RBC). 

The OECD’s RBC received the Open Letter ahead of their high-level Global Forum in Paris (29 June – 2 July 2026) marking the 50th anniversary of the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct. The theme of the Forum is ‘responsible business in a world of transition’. 

The letter calls for greater ambition by OECD member states to adopt and enforce binding measures to hold multinational companies to account for individual and collective human rights violations and environmental destruction. It makes clear that such measures must create clear accountability for corporate actors throughout their value chains and ensure that affected rights-holders can access justice when harms occur.  

Any such measures must be aligned with international human rights law instruments, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). They must also protect the collective rights of other land-connected communities and peoples. It is also key that the rights of women within these groups are clearly articulated in any binding measure. 

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